


Harrison Gaunt and the Not-so-shiny Gemstone

by Sandra_Taylor



Series: Harrison Gaunt series [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Potter Twins, Slytherin Harry Potter, Tom is not insane, Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 78,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23257084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandra_Taylor/pseuds/Sandra_Taylor
Summary: Ten years later the true story begins - Harrison Gaunt is starting Hogwarts!Exploring the castle, quidditch, and... wait - did somebody say "forbidden corridor, enter only if you wish to die a painful death"?!Harry's excited, Tom's just a bit nervous, and Pansy and Draco are just resigned to run after Harry. Because if something happens to him, they're dead and they know it.
Series: Harrison Gaunt series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672210
Comments: 80
Kudos: 527





	1. Platform 9¾

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And the first year is all done! Are you excited?  
> Okay, so, real talk.  
> My usual process is finishing a fic, leaving it in the depths of my notebook for at least a month, and only then start my editing process. But... well. We don't exactly live in normal times, do we? And I thought that if I can help even in a small way to keep people inside...  
> So yeah, I finished this earlier this week, took just three days to help more skilled people make masks for other people, and then pulled an all-nighter to edit this.
> 
> I hope you'll like it.

There‘s a bang from Harry‘s room and Tom is up immediately. He casts a Tempus and sighs.

„Harrison!“

„Sorry, father!“

It‘s way too early for this, but Tom knows that there‘s no way he‘s going back to bed now. He gets up and puts on a robe. He doesn‘t bother knocking on the door between his and Harry‘s room. Harry knows he‘s coming and, well, it‘s his last chance to do so. He promised Harry that when he comes back for the Yule holidays he‘ll be moved to the next room. One that doesn‘t share a door with his father‘s suite.

Harry sits on his sofa. The room is still pretty soft (part of the reason why Harry has been complaining about it for at least two years now), but his sofa is a proper one now. He does need to entertain his friends after all.

Tom frowns when he sees what it is he‘s reading.

„Why are you reading a third year defense textbook?“

„Because I got bored with the one for second year.“

Tom gives him an unimpressed look. Harry smiles at his father, as innocent as he did when he was a baby. But this time Tom is aware that Harry is trying to manipulate him with it. Cunning little snake.

„And why, pray tell, were you reading the second year textbook? And don‘t you dare say you were bored with the first year one. You are going to the first year, after all.“

„But father, it‘s all so boring!“

Tom smiles and sits down so he can easily see at Harry. Harry closes the book and puts it on the table in front of the couch.

„Have you slept at all, little snake?“

„How can I? I‘m going to Hogwarts! All my friends are going to Hogwarts! We‘re going to have so much fun! We‘re going to find the Chamber and cheer for Marcus and get to befriend the mermaids.“

„Be careful with those, little snake,“ an old version of Godrick says from above the fireplace. It‘s an older (or younger, depends on how you look at it) version of the painting in the living room. Harry wanted his grandparents close by and Rick and Sal promised to look after him and not only help him with his mischief if Tom let him have the painting in his rooms. They‘re moving along with Harry‘s things before Yule. Salazar is sleeping in his chair, but Godrick watches them with a smile. „Nasty things, mermaids. They might be your friends, but they won‘t pass an oportunity to drown you.“

„I know, grandpa Rick,“ Harry rolls his eyes. „I heard that story at least a thousand times.“

„Good. Maybe you‘ll listen to them, then.“

„I always listen to them.“

„You only listen to what mischief you can get up to.“

Harry opens and closes his mouth before looking sheepishly at his father.

„I always listen to you?“

Tom snorts. Yes, Harry is very careful to listen to him, word for word. So that he can carefuly obey the word of the law, but not the spirit. Tom had to get really creative with his intructions.

Sometimes he worries that Harry is too Gryffindor for him to handle – like when he stole Marcus‘ broom last year to try flying on a „proper broom, father, the child‘s one is laughable“. But then he always knows exactly what to do to keep out of trouble while usually keeping his friends in trouble and Tom stops worrying.

„Are you packed?“

Harry looks at him like he just insulted Montrose Magpies. Somehow, without Tom noticing, that team became family-favorite. Which in their weird, patched-together family is saying something.

„Of course I‘m packed, father.“ Then he lights up. „Can we get breakfast now?“

„It‘s six in the morning, little snake.“

„High time we have breakfast, if we want to arrive at the station before everyone else.“

„You know that‘s not the plan, Harrison. We‘re supposed to meet everyone at the station at ten. That‘s not for another four hours.“

Harry huffs and slumps back against the sofa. Tom frowns and curls his lip back a little. Harry sighs, but sits properly again.

„So, what are we going to do until then?“

Tom watches him for a long moment before getting up.

„Are you coming?“

Harry hurries after him, curiosity clear in his eyes. Tom stops in front of the door to the library and turns towards Harry.

„You ready?“

Harry‘s eyes lit up. He hasn‘t been allowed in the library since he was five and almost made the circular shelf in the middle of the room fall on him. Tom almost had a heart attack that day and forbidden him to step into the library. He could have an elf fetch him a book or even more books, if he wasn‘t sure what exactly he wanted to read. But wasn‘t allowed in it. Even with an adult assisting him. That rule was added when Harry somehow managed to convince Marcus that he is an adult supervision. Marcus was eleven at the time.

„Really? I can go in?“

„Yes. I‘m lifting the ban – as long as you‘re careful with everything and most importantly yourself.“

„Of course, of course! What are we waiting for? Come on, I still have some space in my suitcase.“

Tom tries not to regret his decision before even stepping a foot into the library. But he does have a reason why he did it.

He lets Harry explore for few long minutes. Or more like, he looks for one book in particular while trying to look like he isn‘t searching for anything. Luckily Harry is too excited about all the books he suddenly has at his disposal. Admittadly, most of these books are in old languages Harry doesn‘t speak. But he knows that his father keeps copies of most of them in modern English – or whatever the modern equivalent of the original language is. For a lot of languages it means English, because they were spoken on the British Islands but died out. But Harry knows that there are some books in old French or Spanish, too.

Finally, he finds what he was looking for. He lets Harry explore some more – Harry obviously has some of Salazar‘s tendencies to jump from one thing to another without a thought to people following him. When he was a baby, Tom thought he might grow out of it. Later, he worried if it won‘t make making friends harder for Harry. But it doesn‘t – Harry seems to pull in all the children Tom ever invited for a playdate. He hoped that Harry and Theo, Emory‘s grandson Harry‘s age, would become close friends. But Emory and his son are not close and so Emory doesn‘t really have a say about who Theo plays with, so that didn‘t happen.

It was young Malfoy Harry befriended instead. Tom wasn‘t excited about that at first. Even at two years Draco was something of a spoiled brat. Tom suspected that Lucius and Narcissa allowed him to play with Harry only because of who Tom is. But it doesn‘t matter anymore – may it be Harry‘s own influence or Lucius and Narcissa realizing that they can‘t spoil endlessly their heir. Or maybe it‘s the fact that when Draco was four, he got a little sister. But Draco Malfoy grew up to be a fine young man. Tom enjoys his company and is glad that Harry has such a good friend in him nowadays.

„Come on, Harrison. Let‘s get breakfast.“

„But father-“

„If we still have time after we get everything ready, you can come back. Now come, I want to give you something.“

In the family dining room there‘s already a breakfast waiting for them. Silently, Tom sends his thanks to Nodby in the kitchen. One of the amazing things about living in a truly magical home is that a lot of things are done almost intuitively, as long as you let your magic flow.

There‘s another painting in the dining room. This one is of all the founders. Turns out the vault at Gringotts with the paintings had a lot of those. Gaunts didn‘t like the reminders that Salazar wasn‘t the biggest wizard fighting against smaller witches and wizard standing in his way. The truth is, the founders became a family. Tom even found one painting of Rowena with her husband and three children in the vault. He gifted it to Hogwarts. Nowadays that painting teaches history to first two years there.

As they come in Rowena and Salazar are bickering over something. Tom groans.

„Enough you two. It‘s way too early for me to listen to you two.“

„Good morning, grandpa Sal, grandpa Rick, aunt Helga, aunt Rowena.“

„Good morning, Harry,“ they chorus and settle in their chairs. „Are you excited for your first year at Hogwarts?“ asks Helga with a soft smile.

„Of course! We‘re going to have so much fun! Uncle Rick says there‘s lots of secret passages all around the castle that we can find! And some even leading out of the castle!“

„Yes, but you aren‘t going to take those ones, are you?“ Godrick asks with somewhat nervous smile sent Tom‘s way. Tom sends him a nasty look. He knew that all this mischief is Rick‘s fault!

„Well, not once I know they lead outside Hogwarts. Grandpa Sal, tell me about the common room.“

Salazar laughs.

„Why would I tell you when just in few more hours you‘re going to be sitting right there?“

Tom relaxes back and lets the bickering of his family wash over him. With a thought he pours himself a cup of tea. The discovery of Slytherin castle helped restore a lot of other manors back to their glory. Many people already forgot that wizarding homes used to intuitevely obey their lord‘s wishes all the time. The fact that Tom let many scholars visit his castle opened a whole new branch of magic. Or rather, reminded them of that branch of magic and so they activated it again.

They made marvelous progress in these last almost ten years, but there‘s still a lot to do.

„Harrison,“ Tom speaks softly, but the attention of the room turns to him. „If you‘re bored with your course books, maybe this will help keep you busy.“

He pushes the book he picked up in the library towards Harry. Harry‘s eyes sparkle as he takes it in and carefully pulls it closer to himself.

„ _Introduction to Parselmagic by Salazar Slytherin._ “

Tom smiles as Harry hisses out the name of the book.

When he adopted Harry, Nagini went to hybernating. When she woke up that spring, Tom introduced her to his son. She took to looking after him. At first, Harry seemed to almost not notice the big snake slythering everywhere he goes. But then one day, when they were in the living room, Tom, Emory, and Corvinus talking about Wizengamot bussiness, Nagini curled around Harry, hissing out softly. Tom was about to tell her to give him space, when Harry giggled, petted her, and hissed what a nice pet she is. Tom just sat there for long minutes. It took Aguamenti from Emory to wake him up.

As if she senses that Tom thinks about her (which is entirely possible, taken their familiar bond) Nagini slythers into the room.

„ _Are you already taking him away from me?_ “

Nagini is not happy that Harry is leaving for Hogwarts.

„ _Not for another few hours, my dear. If you want to entertain him in the meantime, feel free to_ _do so_ _._ “

With a smile he watches as Nagini makes her way to Harry, circling his waist and resting her head on Harry‘s shoulder. Harry doesn‘t flinch, simply offers her his bacon.

He‘s going to miss the boy. But Harry is off to a great adventure and Tom can‘t wait to hear everything about it. He knows Harry is ready, he prepared him himself.

But that doesn‘t make the hole in his heart that Harry will leave behind any smaller.

***

Harry frowns as he steps out of the fireplace covered in ash. He concentrates a bit before smiling at the way the ash falls down. No need to touch his wand. Growing up in a castle sensitive to magic has its perks. Even though other manors in England took up the same magic work, their lords are still learning to use it and their children and heirs are mostly helpless at it. Not Harry. He took to the castle the same way he took to Tom – with surprising ease, as if he was born to do that.

Not that Harry is much aware of that. He just knows that his father always did some little things without a wand, so he learned to do them, too.

He looks around the empty station.

„See? Not even the train is there yet!“

Harry turns slightly to the left to see his uncles, lord Nott and Theodore Flint, and his cousin, Marcus Flint. They‘re not technically a family, there‘s no blood between them. But they‘ve been to Slytherin Castle so often and Marcus has been babysitting him ever since he can remember. They‘re family.

„Hey, Mark.“

„Hi, squirt. How do you feel?“

Harry pushes back the desire to bounce on his feet, but allows himself to smile wildly at his friend. They are in public, but they‘re alone, after all. He‘s too excited for words.

„He woke me up at six,“ draws out his father.

„I did apologize for that. Aunts Helga and Rowena send their wishes of good luck and grandpa Rick says to go easy on the Wood boy. Grandpa Sal says you should crush him.“

Marcus‘ smile turns nasty.

The fireplace behind them heats up and they all turn to watch the Malfoys walk out of it. Lucius Malfoy is the first to come out and he quickly moves his wand to get rid of the ash on his robes. Draco is right behind him. He steps away from the fireplace, before frowning hard. Narcissa leaves the fireplace with Draco‘s younger sister, Lyra. She moves her wand to clean her and Lyra‘s robes and sets her lips into a thin line.

„Draco-“

But Harry pushes his magic against Draco‘s and the boy‘s robes are clean. Draco sighs, but nods at Harry.

„Thank you, Harry.“

Harry nods cordially back. He wants to hug his friend and yell and jump with him – they are going to Hogwarts! But they‘re in public and their fathers wouldn‘t approve. So instead he turns to the woman and the girl whose hand she holds.

„You look lovely as always, lady Malfoy. Lyra, I like what you‘ve done with your hair.“

Lyra grins at him toothily, her two front teeth missing. She has the blonde hair of Malfoys, but hers isn‘t straight as the rest of her family‘s. She inherited her late aunt Bella‘s curls. Harry is not sure what exactly she did to accomplish it, but he sees sparks in them with her every move. It‘s enchanting and playfull. Her robe is not as luxurious as the rest of her family‘s, but it‘s still made from a nice fabric. She has a heart-shaped face and bright blue eyes also inhereted from her Black side. A charming little girl, who‘s always following her brother behind.

Her mother nudges her lightly and Lyra straightens.

„Thank you, Harry, that‘s very kind of you. I see you took the potion correcting your eyesight. It‘s lovely to see you without your glasses.“

Narcissa sighs and Harry and Draco stiffen their giggles.

„Very well, Lyra. But commenting on such a change is better done in private.“

Lyra pouts as she looks around.

„But there‘s no one else here! So we are in private.“

The fireplace activates again and Narcissa kneels down to explain to Lyra that in public, you simply compliment a little detail you noticed about your friend – a new robe or a new haircut is always a safe bet. You don‘t talk about big changes that are private unless you want to draw attention to whatever flaw they were correcting.

Out of the fireplace step the Goyles – first mister Goyle, then Gregory Goyle, and finally misses Goyle. Harry doesn‘t really know mister and misses Goyle – Greg doesn‘t talk about them and they usually just leave Greg to come to the Slytherin Castle on his own. Harry thinks that they used to visit when he was really young, but suspects that father doesn‘t feel that warm towards them. That doesn‘t mean much, though. He suspects father doesn‘t really like Lucius and Narcissa either and he does invite them over for dinner every once in a while. Sometimes they even stay in the castle for the night.

Never in the family wing, like uncles Theodore, Emory, and Corvinus do. Even Rabastan with his family sometimes stays in the family wing, but never Malfoys. The elders, that is. So far Draco has always been permitted to stay in Harry‘s room. They are children, after all.

„Goood morning, Greg.“ This time it‘s Draco who speaks up. „How are you feeling today?“

Greg grunts something and Draco rolls his eyes, careful so the adults don‘t see. Greg takes his place by Draco‘s right side. Draco‘s face turns to a mask, but Harry can see the annoyance behind it. He sends him a quick smile – just few more hours.

The adults are talking among themselves – the Goyles with lord Malfoy and father with his uncles. Marcus seems annoyed to be there so early. He stepped away, leaning against a wall few steps to the side. Harry moves closer to him.

„So, Marcus-“

„I‘m not telling you babies anything about sorting.“ Harry pouts and Marcus snorts. „Look, squirt, not only would your father kill me for ruining the surprise, but I‘m pretty sure your grandparents would actually come back as ghosts to haunt me. I still can‘t believe they came up with it and refused to tell us anything.“

„And by us, you mean you.“

„Obviously I mean me.“ He smirks at them. „I hope you two keep practicing. Our seeker is in seventh year this year, so we‘re going to need you next year, Draco.“

„And I‘ll be ready, captain.“ Draco‘s smirk is wicked, but also wider than it usually is. It has the tendency to do so when talking about quidditch. „What do you think our chances are this year?“

Because there‘s no question about whether or not they‘re going to be sorted into Slytherin. After all, they grew up with the founders talking to them. They know where they belong.

The fireplace activates again and this time, it‘s the child who comes out first. Pansy quickly moves her wand to clean her robes. Then she smiles sweetly at the adults.

Her robes are in dark blue with silver details. She has everything perfectly in place, just as she‘s due taken her status as an heiress. Her hair, so long it reaches her waist when let down, is done in a braid that circles her head like a crown. Harry knows how annoyed she gets with her hair. While he learned the little wandless tricks all his childhood, Pansy concentrated on miriard of little charms meant to braid her hair as soon as she got her wand.

While Hogwarts official recommendation is to buy a wand the summer before first year, none of their parents listened to that – they all got wands on their ninth birthday. Proper wands, made for them and no one else, not the ones Ollivander sells. They went to the Knockturn Alley for it.

„Good morning, lord Slytherin, lord Nott, lord Malfoy, lady Malfoy, mister Flint, mister Goyle, misses Goyle. Good morning, Harry, Marcus, Draco, Greg.“

„Good morning, heiress Parkinson.“ Harry‘s father is famously fond of Pansy, so Harry is not surprised to find him amused now. „Wherever have you left your parents?“

„In the hall of our home, lord Slytherin.“ Pansy‘s playfull smile is not entirely contained by the mask she attempts to raise. As she says that the fire roars again and out step in quick succession lord and lady Parkinson.

„Pansy!“ lady Parkinson snaps at her. Pansy turns her smile at her mum.

„Yes, mother?“

Lady Parkinson just sighs and turns to greet the adults. Pansy happily skips to Draco and Harry.

„Finally! I‘ve been trying to get them into the fireplace and out of the house for fifteen minutes already! I have my suitcase with me, obviously, so there was no reason for us not to leave, but they just kept coming up with one!“

Harry notices Marcus muttering something and turning somewhat away from them. He doesn‘t mind. Pansy‘s nervous chattering can get on one‘s nerve.

„Where‘s the train? Where‘s Vincent?“

„It‘s still too early for the train.“

„And you know how Vince is. Wanna bet he‘s still packing?“

„No bet,“ answer Pansy and Draco as one. Harry glares at them. He misses the times when they were gullible and he was able to win a dessert off of them. Granted, that happpened only like twice with each of them before they started thinking about their bets with Harry, but still. He liked those times when he got two desserts and they got none.

„Have any of you seen Millicent lately?“

Harry watches as Draco and Greg both shake their heads.

„Father says that her parents want her to focus on her studies.“

Pansy snorts. Harry glares at her.

„I‘m sorry, but Millie isn‘t the quickest broom in the shed. I like her, but that‘s just a fact.“

„Well, if we help her, maybe she‘ll be able to spend more time with us again.“

Harry likes Millicent. She‘s always been quiet and never really that excited about his schemes, but she was loyal to a bone and long time ago, Harry started to think about her as one of his people. They spent a lot of time together before their lectures started. After that they didn‘t have that much time, they all were busy with their private tutors, but Millicent was the one who was truly left behind. The rest of them still got together semi-regularly. Their parents always supported their friendship, but the Bulstrodes didn‘t seem to find it that important.

The fire activates once more just as the sound comes. Harry just glances towards the fireplace to check that it is the Crabbes that are coming before joining his friends in coming closer to the track.

The train comes and Harry feels the excitement. He never traveled by train before.

Harry spares some of his concentration on keeping still. The energy in him wants him to jump around and hug his friends, but even though they‘re alone they‘re still in public and it‘s not proper to behave like that. He might not be the heir (not yet, anyway), but he still has a family to represent.

Suddenly, someone hugs him from behind and lifts him up. Harry yells out and he can feel his magic reacting. The result is that both he and his assaulter find themselves on the floor.

„Damn, little man. I always forget that you are actually powerful.“

Harry turns around and glares at Rabastan.

„What were you thinking?“

„What? Can‘t I hug my favorite little wizard?“

„What are you doing here, Rabastan?“ Father sounds annoyed, but when Harry looks back to check on him he doesn‘t look really annoyed. More like the fond, pretend annoyed father sometimes does when he wants to seem stern.

Harry knows that his father can get really annoyed. It‘s better not to cross him then.

Rabastan sighs and helps Harry stand up, adjusting his own robes so they fit him well. It‘s his healer‘s robes, Harry realizes.

„My shift just ended and I realized that you said that you‘re coming here an hour early, so I fiigured I‘d stop by to say bye to Harry. Sorry, little man, I have to hurry home. Lord Crouch expects Barty in the office in an hour.“ He rolls his eyes. „But really, Harry.“ He grows serious, setting one hand on Harry‘s shoulder and using the other to mess with his hair. „By Merlin, when did you grow so big? That‘s not going to happen to Rosie, is it?“

Rose is a five year old girl Rabastan and Barty adopted just three months ago. The ministry found her on scene of an explosion, with signs of physical abuse. Two corpses were found nearby, identified as her muggle parents.

She‘s a quiet girl, doesn‘t talk at all. When someone uses magic around her she flinches. Harry is never sure what to do around her, but both Barty and Rabastan seem to adore her.

The fireplace lits up and on the other end of the hall a small family walks through the entrance from the muggle world. Tom steps closer to his son.

„Rabastan. Time to go.“

Rabastan sighs and once more squeezes Harry before letting him go.

„Have fun, Harry. And write to me!“

„Sure, Stan,“ Harry grins at him. „Say hi to Barty and Rosie for me.“

Rabastan grins at him before taking few steps back and apparating. Harry didn‘t realize they‘re this close to the apparation point.

„This boy,“ sighs uncle Emory, shaking his head. „I swear this boy will never grow up. I had my hopes for the adoption, but it seems that once again they will remain unfulfilled. Come on, children. Let‘s get you settled in before the convoy with the boy-who-lived arrives.“

Now that‘s an interesting story. One that Harry himself didn‘t know until his eleventh birthday.

Harry knew the story of Christopher Potter, the boy-who-lived. He knew about the war, in theory, and how terrible Voldemort was. He knew that Christopher Potter is now hailed as the savior of the light. And he knew that his father leans more towards the dark. His father always answers his questions and tries to explain concepts to its fullest.

But until his eleventh birthday he didn‘t know that his father used to be Voldemort, and he had no idea that he used to be Henry Potter, twin to the boy-who-lived. Or rather, boy-who-lied.

To be fair to Christopher, that‘s not a fair nickname. Chris was only one year old at the time. Dumbledore was the one who hailed him as the hero, he was the one who proclaimed Henry dead, even though his mother was trying to prove that it was a rushed decision.

As always, his father was sincere with him when he told him about the war, about Voldemort. When Harry sensed that he‘s not told everything, father honestly told him that there are things he doesn‘t think he‘s ready to hear.

So Harry knows the whole truth now. Or most of it, anyway. He knows that Voldemort truly was terrible and horrifying. But he also knows that he started with a political agenda that father is still trying to implement now, decades later. But this time, he has his title and the official channels to make it happen. Something he didn‘t have before.

„Harrison?“ He looks up to see father in the door to the compartment they chose for the journey. It‘s in the middle of the train. Greg and Vince stayed by the door and Harry and Draco took the seats by the window, leaving Pansy sitting between Harry and Greg. „Are you alright?“

He smiles at him. His father isn‘t one for hugs. Even in private, he usually tenses under the touch. So Harry doesn‘t hug him, even though they‘re still somewhat in private.

„I‘m fine, father. I‘ll see you for Samhain?“

Tom‘s face doesn‘t change but something in his eyes softens. In public he wears a glamour over his red eyes – like that they match the light green of Harry‘s eyes. They‘re easier to read, or so Harry thinks.

„I‘ll see you for Samhain. And I expect owls at least weekly. I got you Nimueh for a reason.“ Nimueh is Harry‘s very own owl. It‘s a simple barn owl, but Harry didn‘t want anything flashy. Easier to go unnoticed like that. „We‘ll be leaving now.“ It‘s apparent that now father talks to the whole compartment. „We‘d love to see you children off, but there‘s a meeting of the Hogwarts Board at noon and me, Narcissa, and Florence need to get ready for that.“ Harry knows all that, obviously, and he thinks that the others do, too. „Have a wonderful year at Hogwarts and don‘t get into trouble.“ In other words – don‘t get caught.

Father searches his eyes. They exchange one final look, father‘s lips tighten in the barest hint of a smile, before he turns around and leaves. Harry relaxes into the cushion and closes his eyes.

He‘s so close to leaving for Hogwarts for the very first time he can feel it in his bones.

***

Half an hour later, he‘s still there and somehow it feels like Hogwarts is further away than thirty minutes ago.

There‘s chaos at the platform. People from media arrived about twenty minutes ago and it‘s been chaos ever since then. More and more people keep coming in, parents and children yelling at each other. It got so loud that Harry closed the window and Draco pulled the door closed and sent a murmured charm at it. Harry raises his eyebrows at him.

„Little spell father showed me to make sure I can keep my things to myself. I‘ll show you later.“

Pansy sighs in annoyance.

„Have you seen the information the school sent with our letters? It looks like we‘re just going to go over the very basic things our parents showed us ages ago.“

„Not everyone has the advantage of our parents, Pansy.“ Harry tries to be patient with her. He‘s not fond of her as his father is. He likes her just fine, but lately she‘s been… more annoying. Father says Harry thinks that only because she‘s a girl, but Harry isn‘t sure that‘s entirely true. Pansy has been different every since her ninth birthday. More… giggly.

„And even those with magical parents – not everyone is willing to teach their children at home.“

Pansy pouts, but nods.

„Well, at least we can have fun this year.“

Harry grins at them. He knows that his father would now say something about staying on top of their studies instead, but really – they can probably do both.

They all saw each other just last week for lunch at Malfoys‘, so the catch up talk doesn‘t take any time at all. And they‘ve already talked over and over about how they‘re excited about Hogwarts. And they‘re no longer in private. They could pull the curtains on the door to the compartment closed, but they wouldn‘t be able to people watch then.

So instead they each pull out something to do. With a sigh, Harry passes the book on parselmagic for a quidditch magazine. Pansy also pulls out a magazine (not quidditch one, Harry is sure hers is some version of Witch Weekly for younger girls) and Draco pulls out a book, but neither one of them pays attention to it. Greg and Vince don‘t even bother hiding behind books, they simply look out to the hall, something close to eagerness on their faces. Draco sneers when he sees it, but Harry just rolls his eyes at him and softly kicks him on the shin.

There‘s a lot of people milling around. Harry sees Daphne Greengrass pass their compartment, not sparing them a glance. If he wasn‘t still so fascinated by the fact that her and Draco have almost the exact shade of blode hair, he wouldn‘t even recognize her. It‘s been years since she last came for a playdate and it didn‘t end well. Admittedly, Harry did push her in the greenhouse so she would fall near a meateating flower. He wanted to see if what Vince said was true – if the flower truly eats people. So yes, that‘s a connection he ruined before he could even read. There‘s a petite brunette hurrying after Daphne. Harry takes good notice of her, if only because the Greengrasses are traditionally Slytherin family, so he‘s probably going to share classes with Daphne and, presumably, with this girl. He doesn‘t see Millicent or Susan Bones.

Susan was also a girl that came to playdate when Harry was a child. This time, it was not Harry‘s fault that she stopped coming. Father said something about a bussiness he had with her aunt. Now that he knows that father was Voldemort it makes sense – Susan‘s parents, grandparents, and uncle all died during the war. It‘s even said that her father was killed by Voldemort himself.

It‘s easy to spot the muggleborns in the crowd. They‘re not the only ones wearing the atrocious clothes, but they are the ones looking terrified with parents who keep to themselves. Or rather, the muggles seem to huddle together, with their children as a shield between them and the wizards. Harry sneers when he sees that. Cowards.

There‘s also a storm of gingerheads coming in about twenty minutes before eleven. Draco is the one to sneer right then.

„Weasleys.“

Harry agrees with him. Not only are they clad in… whatever it is muggles call those terrible trousers, but they trully take the platform by a storm. The oldest brother at least tries to keep his integrity, but it‘s hard to do when you have your unshrink suitcase right in front of you and then you need to drag it with you into the train. Have they not heard about shrinking charm? Or, hell, lightening charm?

The twins seem to be as eager to leave their family behind as their older brother. Harry keeps watching the woman with her two youngest children. With relief he notices that there‘s only one trunk left. Hopefully it means that only one of them is going to Hogwarts this year, not that they‘re too poor to even get a trunk for each of the children. Plus, the youngest Weasley is a girl and girls still get separate rooms from boys at Hogwarts, so that probably wouldn‘t work. They seem to be waiting for someone.

Harry shakes his head and once again scans the whole crowd. What does he care what the Weasley bunch do? It is a shame that such a respectable family as the Prewetts is now nothing more than the woman who dyes her hair to fit in her own family, but what can you do.

Finally, it seems like there‘s more people in the train than on the railway. Harry pulls out his wand to cast silent Tempus.

Just as he does that there‘s a comotion on the platform. All he needs to see is unruly black hair and he turns towards Draco, rolling his eyes. Ten minutes to eleven, the famous boy-who-lived finally arrives. Pansy rolls her eyes and finally starts reading her magazine. Harry hesitates, but then he peers out of the window once again.

James Potter is not a big man. Harry knows his biological father is bellow avarage in height, because he‘s not as tall as his father was at his age. His father is taller than the avarage man, but thanks to James‘ smaller stature, Harry will never be as tall as his father. Once again something he didn‘t know until shortly after his eleventh birthday. But James is tan and smiling that wide smile with all teeth that Harry always found strange. His hair is as untidy as ever. Harry understands artistic ruffle, but that‘s not what‘s happening with James Potter‘s hair. Harry could respect him for his auror robes (black ones, with the auror office erb emblemed over one‘s heart), except his are not robes any respectable wizard would wear. They‘re wide open, to begin with. And underneath them James has the same muggle clothes the Weasleys wear. Less worn, more expensive looking. But it doesn‘t matter. The emblem of the auror office isn‘t even visible with the way the robe is thrown open.

He has a firm grip on his son and is already talking to the media. His son‘s smile is just as big and creepy. Just as his father, he‘s not really tall, but his presence somehow makes up for it. It doesn‘t quite fill the room the way father‘s presence does, but it‘s enough to make them appear bigger than they are.

Christopher Potter is not really what Harry expected. Sure, he saw his pictures in the Daily Prophet (they tend to print them regularly), but somehow they always manage to capture his better side. He‘s always portrayed as a charming young man with killer smile and bright green eyes and Harry can see that in him, but he… well, he expected him to be physically close to him or Draco – lean and slim. Not skinny, because with the food they eat and all the activities they do to keep in shape (their parents insisted they run regularly and build up their stamina. Harry knows that it‘s to help them with duels in the future. And that‘s not even talking about all the things they come up with and do together), but not…

Christopher Potter is not fat. Not yet anyway. Harry thinks he‘s lacking about 5 kilos before he‘d be able to call him that, though, and that‘s not much. All the photos he saw of him lately, he realizes suddenly, was of him from shoulders up. He has somewhat round cheeks, but it‘s not really screaming fat. His body is a little more… well, he‘s shorter, but bigger than Harry. Once again, Harry doesn‘t want to call him fat, but he is rounder than any child Harry personally knows outside of Vince and Greg. They‘re big and yes, that includes being bigger than Chris Potter in this, too.

„When did Christopher Potter got fat?“

Pansy. Harry should have known she wouldn‘t be interested in a gossip magazine for long. Not when there‘s fresh gossip going on just few steps away from her.

„I wouldn‘t call him fat,“ Draco says carefully. Pansy rolls her eyes.

„He‘s certainly not keeping in shape as much as a so called savior should. I mean – you guys keep in better shape than him.“

Harry looks at Draco, who just shrugs. Yes, she does have a point. Harry already explained why that is, but as the hope for the future, shouldn‘t Chris Potter have a training that the other purebloods don‘t have? Pansy doesn‘t run every other day five laps around the quidditch pitch (yes, they have each their own quidditch pitch – they‘re part of their manors/castles, okay?), but she still runs around with them a lot. And Harry knows that other children (Marcus comes to mind, but he‘s not sure if he counts, considering that he likes to spend extra time training quidditch) also have a training regime since they started their lessons at age five. Also, Harry suspects that the way they eat has something to do with how fit they are, with the way their parents insisted on packing them lunch for the train. They are allowed to buy something from the cart in the train, of course, but not the food for the whole day.

„How come the news never mention things like that? You know, the actually interesting things?“

„Because the Daily Prophet is basically a propaganda piece and magical Great Britain basically doesn‘t have an alternative to it?“

Pansy theatrically raises her magazine.

„That‘s a rag, not a newspaper.“

Pansy sneers at them, but then giggles escape her.

„What about Quibbler?“

Harry and Draco exchange another look.

Quibbler‘s editor in chief is technically Draco‘s uncle, considering that Draco‘s aunt married him. Draco‘s grandfather, Abraxas, was happy for her, but Lucius Malfoy never really understood why she choose Xenophilius Lovegood to marry when she could have chosen any pureblood wizard. And then she died and Lucius never really made an effort to keep in touch with his brother-in-law and, more importantly, niece. It‘s one of the reasons why Harry‘s father isn‘t really fond of the Malfoys.

But the thing is, Harry‘s father reads Quibbler. He subscribes to every single newspaper he can find to help them keep on the market (he doesn‘t include Witch Weekly, because that magazine does pretty well, and he did start Seeker Weekly subscribtion when Harry learned to read), but that doesn‘t mean he reads them. But every once in a while, when they sit together in the living room, Harry sees his father actually reading the Quibbler. So it can‘t be complete nonsense.

Harry settles for a shrug before once again looking out the window. Chris Potter is talking and the people seem to eat it up. Harry sighs and goes back to his magazine. It‘s the newest issue and his father refused to give it to him up until that very morning.

When the train actually starts moving, he once again casts Tempus and then makes a face at Draco when it shows that it‘s leaving 15 minutes late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Was it worth the wait?  
> And how often would you like updates? I have it almost ready for posting, but I haven't even started the second book yet and I don't know if I'll be able to write in the upcoming weeks. So think about your answer, cause in the end you might have to wait even longer between first and second book than you did between the prologue and first book ;-)  
> Let me know and stay safe!


	2. Welcome to Slytherin, children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Express on its way, Harry is ready to see Hogwarts for the first time.  
> The train ride, the sorting, and the Slytherin common room. You weren't expecting Harry to go anywhere else, were you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be some details that differ from canon. Some of it is on purpose, some of it kinda just happened. I did go over few things in the book while writing this, but I didn't reread the book as a whole. But hey, it's a crack fic, so I try not to take it too seriously.  
> Enjoy!

There‘s quiet in the compartment for the next two hours. Even Vince and Greg pull out their books. They‘re both storybooks, but Harry with his Seeker Weekly can hardly blame them. The only one of them actually studying is Draco, and he‘s reading a book about dragons. He‘s been reading books about dragons ever since they learned to read.

After Harry is done with the most interesting articles he puts the magazine down and looks at Draco. He waits for him to finish. Draco doesn‘t even glance at him before he puts his bookmark into the book, closes it, and turns towards Vince and Greg.

„Boys, we need to talk.“

Vince and Greg look up at Draco, then look at each other, then at Draco again. Only then they close their books (Greg bends the corner of the page instead of using a bookmark like a decent human being) and turn fully to Draco. Draco sighs.

„Look, Vince, Greg, we all know that our fathers have… a deal. Your fathers asked you to keep an eye on me, and so you‘re supposed to get to Slytherin, even though we all know you don‘t belong there. Don‘t argue with me,“ he adds as Greg frowns. „We grew up with the founders talking to us. We know what Sal was like, we know what Helga was like, and we all know, which house you two will be happier with.“ Then he breaths in and Harry smiles. „I, Draco Malfoy, heir to lord Malfoy, lift the old ties tying my family with the Crabbe family and with the Goyle family, for our generation. So I say, so mote it be.“

The magic settles around them as Pansy frowns at them and Harry smiles.

„It worked!“ Harry says, excited. They worked on those words together, but without help from their fathers. For the very first time. „But really,“ he then turns to Vince and Greg, this time seriously. „You guys will be so much happier in Hufflepuff. And if you have problems with your dyslexia, you can always come up to us and we‘ll help you study.“

„Sure,“ Draco shrugs. „We‘ll stay friends. Just… don‘t make yourself go through something you don‘t want to just because of me. I can take care of myself.“

„And I‘ve got his back.“

Vince and Greg obviously don‘t know what to say, before Vince smiles at them.

„Thank you, Draco. I hear that the herbology teacher is also the head of Hufflepuff.“

„Yeah.“ Greg doesn‘t sound so sure, but he also somewhat relaxes. „Thanks, Draco.“

***

The cart lady comes at a time that feels like lunch time, so they each get their favorite sweet before getting out their lunch boxes and first eating those.

They start a game of Exploding Snaps. Pansy at first turns her nose up on it, but after few games she wants in.

Just as they start playing all five of them, the door to the compartment bursts open. Without knocking. They don‘t raise their wands, but Harry is very aware that all of them got their wands out of the holsters with flick of their hands. Him, Draco, and Pansy all so quickly that if they were to throw a spell, it would be quick enough to defect the spell of the one interrupting them so rudely. Probably. If they could do a shield. Which they can‘t, because their magic is still not strong and/or stable enough.

It‘s a girl, Harry realizes quick enough not to actually raise his wand and send a stunner her way. It probably wouldn‘t do much, he just started trying out stunners and he‘s successful once every five tries or something like that. Father assures him it‘s still amazing. Harry tends to believe him.

A muggleborn girl, he adds in his mind when he sees her hair, bushy, dark brown, and, most importantly, let down. He makes himself keep the straight face. She doesn‘t know better, he reminds himself. He‘s pretty sure hair is one of the first things the teacher of the introductory class for muggleborns addresses.

„Have you seen a toad?“ Now he lets himself scowl. Surely muggles teach at least some manners? „This boy, Neville, lost her.“

„What do we care for a-“

„Neville?“ Harry isn‘t nice himself, he‘s aware, jumping into Pansy‘s sneered answer. He doesn‘t really care. „Neville Longbottom?“

The girl frowns.

„I… think so?“ She seems confused. Once again, Harry tries to remind himself that she doesn‘t know better. After all, father told him how scary it was, coming to an entirely new world on his own. But this girl is not acting the way she should if she wants to learn. „Have you seen the toad or not?“ She seems annoyed with them and honestly, if she wasn‘t already implying an important connection, Harry would happily let Pansy at her. For all the bratty attitude Pansy picked up over the last two years, watching her lit into someone is endlessly amusing.

„We haven‘t seen a toad, miss…?“

He‘s not used to having to ask someone to introduce themselves. Luckily, she gets the hint.

„Granger. Hermione Granger.“

„Miss Granger. But we‘ll keep an eye open. Where can we return the toad if we do find it?“

She frowns, as if she wasn‘t expecting to get that far.

„Neville is close to the beginning of the train. One of the first cart with compartments. You can give it back there.“

And with that she‘s gone, as rudely as she came in. Pansy sneers after her.

„For once, I agree with Pansy.“

Harry frowns at Draco, but can‘t really complain. Hermione Granger was… forceful and entirely uncaring about the fact that they were in the middle of something when she came in.

„You know the rules.“

Draco scrunches his nose.

„I don‘t care about her hair. I don‘t like the attitude.“

Frankly, Harry agrees. But maybe that was just the nerves of the first day speaking?

„Still. Let‘s give her the two months.“

„And then?“

Harry grins at Pansy.

„Then we have our fun.“

***

The half an hour warning comes and they change their robes. Pansy giggles about it (they prefer their robes traditional, so it‘s only underwear under their robes for them), but Harry and Draco both ignore her. Hogwarts has separate bedrooms for boys and girls, but when Pansy slept over at the castle or when all of them slept at Malfoy Manor, she always stayed in the same room as them. That‘s going to change now that they‘re officially attending Hogwarts, but it‘s what they‘re used to.

The s peaker above them tells them to leave their things behind. Harry and his friend s ignore it. They didn‘t take  them from their pockets the whole way.  Now they just switch them from their everyday robes to their as of yet unmarked uniforms.

They go out in Hogsmeade. It‘s not entirely new view for Harry – his father refused to take him to Hogwarts, but he took him to Hogsmeade few times before. Not the train station, obviously, but the village looks the same from here as it does from the small cafe on the main street. Almost.

When he sees the man that calls for them to come forward he frowns. Hagrid is the gamekeeper his father talked about few times, but Harry didn‘t expect him to be so… huge. Not even tall and fat, but simply huge.

„There‘s no way that man isn‘t at least half giant.“

Harry nods, but makes himself take a deep breath. Creatures are usually not as dangerous as the tales would want you to believe, Harry remembers his father lecturing. But on the other hand, giants are dangerous, violent creatures. But then…

„He‘s certainly not a full giant and that‘s what matters. Besides – he‘s still at Hogwarts even after father has been making changes for ten years. That means that nothing ever happened to a child with him.. We‘re safe.“

As always, the logical reasoning calms them down somewhat. Greg still looks nervous, but that‘s Greg.

They‘re told to go four on a boat, so with a somewhat sorry smile Harry, Draco, Vince, and Greg leave Pansy behind. She doesn‘t seem to mind – she steps into a boat with Daphne Greengrass, the girl that was following her, and another girl with brunette hair. That brunette is the only one who doesn‘t have her hair in a complicated looking pattern – she has a simple braid starting on top of her head. Her hair isn‘t as long as Pansy‘s (or Daphne‘s and the other girl‘s), but it still works and she did put her hair up in a way. Pansy is happily chatting with them even before they actually start their journey.

Harry looks back and notices that Hagrid talks to Chris and the Weasley boy. He sighs and looks back forward. Of course the boy-who-lived is on friendly terms with the Hogwarts staff.

When they finally start making their way over Harry is distracted by some movement under them. He tries to see if the mermaids came, trying to suppress the shiver going down his spine. Maybe the story of how Sal almost got drowned got to him more than he realized.

And then the view opens and for the first time he sees a castle that will be his second (well, third) home these upcoming seven years. And then, hopefully, his responsibility.

The view is magical. The castle is lit up and after a moment Harry feels the wards. He closes his eyes, concentrating on the magic he feels scanning him. He knows that the wards were built by all four founders, but he‘s not able to feel four different signatures. He sighs and opens his eyes again.

Soon they‘re getting to the shore. A tall witch in traditional robe with Scottish elements waits there for them. Harry and Draco briskly get out, straightening their robes, and Draco brushes his hair out of his face.

„Welcome to Hogwarts.“ The witch has a stern voice, but her speech about Hogwarts and how each and every house has its qualities makes Harry hopeful about the next seven years.

He doesn‘t understand why they have to wait in front of the Great Hall, in front of the massive wooden doors to it. But he doesn‘t say anything and instead looks around.

There‘s four paintings, two on each side of the door. On one side there‘s Salazar and Rowena, on the other there‘s Godrick and Helga. Harry was warned that those are not the same paintings he‘s used to. They won‘t know who he is. And more importantly, these paintings don‘t know details about their private lives. They were painted at different time, the last year each of them taught.

Harry doesn‘t entirely understand how paintings are done. He just knows that they know what they‘re told. First before they‘re even finished, as the person being painted is required to be there and tell stories about themselves. Then later, when they‘re activated, stories they‘re told or they see for themselves. And because Sal and Rick in the living room have been there since their painting was finished (silenced and immobilized, so they could observe and wouldn‘t creep the living originals) and because Sal and Rick took care to inform them about important things that happened outside of that room, they‘re pretty close copies of the original.

The ones they left at the Hogwarts, on the other hand, are not supposed to be close copies of the original. They‘re there to help educate future generations, to help them with their troubles, and to lead them in times of need. They were told everything the founders knew and thought could be taught to future generations, everything they learned about teaching to help them get along with them. They told them little about their personal lives – who their bonded were and who their children were, but just as a footnote to their story. Not the same way the paintings in the Castle were. And so the paintings here at Hogwarts won‘t be the same as the paintings he came to count as his family.

Salazar is somewhere in between the young living room one and the old, Harry‘s own room one – his hair is stricken with silver, but mostly still dark, his face is a little wrinkled and his eyes are hard. His robes are just as luxurious as the other two Hary saw him in – dark green with silver lining. There‘s a snake curled around one of his hands and Salazar is sitting in his armchair, thick book in his lap, but his eyes are scanning the students in front of him. When he notices Harry, Harry nods respectfully and moves on.

Rowena Ravenclaw was a strikingly beautiful witch. Her hair, which Harry always saw let down way bellow her waist and black as a midnight sky, is made into two thick braids that have all the colors from the above mentioned black to stark white, each one of them has a thick ribbon woven into the braid –one bronze and the other one dark blue. Her diadem is sitting on top of her head, its light blue gem reaching into her forehead and making her blue eyes pop. Her robes look to be from similar fabric as Salazar‘s, but hers are in dark blue with bronze lining. The founders were clearly really into their aesthetics. She‘s watching them with similarly clever eyes to Salazar‘s, except she‘s smiling softly. She‘s much older than Salazar there.

Helga, on the other side of the door, doesn‘t wear robe. She‘s wearing black trousers with yellow tunic above it, along with dagger behind her belt, her wand in a holster on her left arm and a smaller dagger in the same place on her right arm. She‘s not sitting properly on her armchair, the way Salazar and Rowena do – instead she has one leg drawn up and the other let down, she‘s playing with a loose hair (she might be more relaxed, but she still has her hair done up – in a way that‘s familiar to Pansy‘s hair right at the moment, actually). She‘s a big woman in all senses of that word, not like Rowena who‘s simply tall. Her white hair is in strike difference to her dark eyes. She‘s already chatting with some of the muggleborn girls in front of her, smiling at them easily. Harry doesn‘t understand how she can present such a calming presence with her weapons blatantly on display. She‘s about Rowena‘s age, Harry thinks. He knows that her blonde hair went white much quicker than Rowena‘s.

Godrick is the oldest of them by far. He‘s still tall in his painting, but he‘s not as much big as simply fat by that point. Kind of like the one in Harry‘s room. He‘s also just in trousers and a tunic – his trousers being the yellow, gold-ish one and his tunic the dark red one. His hairline receded and the little Harry does see is white, his wrinkles are clearly visible, yet he‘s still smiling at children in front of him, his light blue eyes sparkling. His tunic‘s long sleeves cover his wand, but his sword is visible by his hip. He‘s talking to Chris Potter, the Weasley boy, and another three boys who stand close by.

He wants to watch the interaction between Helga and Godrick and the students, but the witch in Scottish robe comes back and then they‘re off to the Great Hall.

„It‘s not real, the ceiling,“ Harry can hear from somewhere in front of them. „It‘s just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_.“

„You and everyone who ever opened that damned book,“ Draco mutters under his breath. Harry smirks. He‘s not wrong. That book is… not good.

„What I would like to know is why she read it,“ Harry adds just a little more loudly. „I know for a fact that first two years don‘t have any book requirements for history.“

They smirk at each other, but by then they‘re up front and Harry focuses on the little stool with a hat on it. He doesn‘t understand what that is, until a rift in the hat opens and it starts singing. Harry has to stop himself from giggling aloud. He carefully doesn‘t look at Draco.

When the sorting starts Harry looks up at the place where head table used to be. There‘s a little podium and on it five smaller tables with teachers sitting around all of them. Harry‘s father made sure that they would be more than just one teacher per subject, which means that not all teachers could fit at a head table, so this was the solution.

When Vince gets called up, Harry snaps back to attention. The hat takes a little longer than what Harry‘s comfortable with, but finally it shouts: „HUFFLEPUFF.“

Harry smiles and looks towards Draco, who looks relieved and happy. Harry knows that for all the irritation Draco shows for the pair of friends, he‘s fond of them.

„Gaunt, Harrison.“

Harry notices the way Dumbledore flinches before straightening up. He looks down, making sure that his face is clear before he looks back up again.

„ _And what do we have here?_ “ Harry shudders when he hears the voice inside his head, but he makes himself not react and not to push against it.

„ _Hello, sorting hat. What may I call you?_ “

There‘s a moment of silence, before:

„ _I can see that young Tom found his way after all._ _I do not have a name, child, I‘m simply the Sorting hat and that‘s enough for me._ “

„ _What‘s the story behind that?_ “

„ _You will have to ask your grandparents about that, child. Now, let‘s move this sorting along, shall we?_ “

The Slytherin is shouted out for everyone to hear and Harry doesn‘t hesitate to head right to that table. With his eyes he finds Marcus. He kind of wants to go to him and giggle with him about Sorting hat, but that would ruin his reputation before he even ate his dinner, so he doesn‘t do that. Instead, he sits opposite of Millicent.

„Hello, Millicent. May I still call you that?“

Millicent frowns at him, but nods before looking to her lap. Harry frowns, before he quickly joins the clapping for another new snake – Daphne Greengrass. She sits next to the girl next to Millicent – Tracy Davis, the friend she was with at the train. Greg is already at the Hufflepuff table and Harry‘s happy to see that.

Harry politely claps for every sorting, but extra for the ones that get into Slytherin – Draco (obviously), Theodore Nott (who he curiously doesn‘t know, even though Nott‘s grandfather is Emory, person Harry himself calls an uncle), Pansy (once again, kind of obvious), and finally, Blaise Zabini. Harry doesn‘t know Blaise Zabini and never really heard of him, which is really curious.

„Zabini?“ Pansy raises her eyebrows at their newest member, blatantly ignoring Dumbledore‘s little speech. „As in, madame Zabini, eight time a widow? As of last week.“

Blaise slight smirk turns lethal.

„A tragedy, truly. Mother is mad with grief.“

Oh. That Zabini. The Black Widow‘s son. Harry smirks.

„I‘m sure.“ Harry smirks at Zabini. „I‘m Harrison Gaunt. It‘s nice to meet you, mister Zabini. These are Heir Malfoy, Heiress Parkinson, Heiress Greegrass, miss Davis, miss Bulstrode, and mister Nott.“ Considering that it‘s Nott‘s father who holds the Heir title, Theodore Nott doesn‘t hold any title yet. When his father takes over the lordship (if that day ever comes, Emory doesn‘t seem in a hurry to abdicate), then Theodore Nott will become the Heir.

Zabini looks towards each of them with small smirk and intense eyes.

„Honor to meet you all.“

The proper words said in such a flippant way that it‘s obvious he‘s mostly just poking fun at them. Harry keeps up his smile, but narrows his eyes.

But then the food appears and the feast begins. Daphne Greengrass icily ignores Harry, but she politely responds to Draco and Pansy doesn‘t seem to have any problems talking to her. Tracy Davis seems somewhat shy, but then again Harry is also more listening than talking, so maybe it‘s her way of getting used to her new life at Hogwarts.

Harry looks up and frowns at the throne-like chair Dumbledore sits in. It‘s tacky, but it‘s got nothing on Dumbledore‘s robe.

„Oh my, what is he wearing?“

„How are you surprised? Have you not seen him in the last ten years? Oh, wait...“

Harry doesn‘t bother glaring at Daphne. Even though she says it maliciously and doesn‘t mean for it to be helpful, Harry‘s father always taught him to find lessons even in places no one else would look. Plus, she‘s right. While he wasn‘t isolated during his childhood, his father did keep him away from most of the society. Harry has been attending father‘s annual Yule ball since he was six, but that‘s not exactly open to everyone. And father is careful about who he invites. It‘s no longer restricted to dark families, but it is restricted to people Tom likes. Or at least works with enough to demand a civil conversation between them.

So yes, he hasn‘t met Dumbledore yet. He knows that other children he knows go to more social events. His father leaves the castle often enough for those functions. Harry was never really interested. The Yule ball once a year is enough for him.

„Well, if he always dresses like that, I‘m glad my eyes were spared.“

Daphne gives him a nasty glare before turning back to Davis. Draco smirks at him before turning back to the conversation he started with Zabini. In French, because even though they all talk French, Draco is the only one pretentious enough to actually talk in that language during opening feast in their first year at Hogwarts. So Harry turns towards Nott.

It‘s not an easy conversation. Nott is quiet and talks only when asked a question. And his answers are always short, almost curt. He sits straight and proper, careful not to touch anyone. He eats quietly and very little. Harry frowns when he sees it. Sure, he could simply ignore it. But they‘re Slytherins now. And Slytherins stick together.

Besides, Harry knows that Emory is sad about not seeing his grandson. He would never say so aloud (not anywhere near where Harry could overhear), but Harry learned to read his family pretty well. He knows Emory would like to spend some time with his grandson. He doesn‘t know the whole story, but he thinks he didn‘t spend much time with his son when he was a child. Maybe he wants another chance at that. And now Harry has a chance to help with that.

„Now, before you can all go to beds, there are few things that need to be covered.“ Harry doesn‘t like the way Dumbledore‘s eyes twinkle and the way he looks down on all of them. He stood up and now it‘s more prominent than before. Suddenly, Harry doesn‘t like the little podium. „The Forbidden forest is, as the name suggests, forbidden to all students. There‘s also a list of forbidden items available in the headmaster‘s office, but let me sum it up for you – just don‘t buy things at Zonko‘s.“ He smiles at them and there‘s a low chuckle in the student‘s body. Harry isn‘t at all surprised to find that the Slytherin table stays silent. „Finally, this year I‘m afraid the third floor on the west wing is strictly forbidden to anyone who doesn‘t wish to die a painful, horrible death.“

Harry blinks a few times before turning to Draco. Draco takes only a moment to turn his unbelieving look to Harry. If this isn‘t bait then Harry doesn‘t know what is. And Harry wants to take it, he really does. Draco has to see it on him, because he frowns at him and shakes his head mutely. Harry grins before turning back to Dumbledore.

„Now, off you go. Off to bed, all of you. Tomorrow is an exciting day for all of us.“

While the rest of the Hall starts moving the Slytherin first years keep sitting there, just looking at each other.

„Well, he‘s… something else.“

„I can‘t believe lord Slytherin allows him to stay as a headmaster.“ Daphne‘s sneer is just a little smaller for Harry‘s father than it is for him. „He‘s quite senile, isn‘t he?“

„He‘s been headmaster by the time father claimed his title. He can‘t do anything about him unless there‘s complains against Dumbledore in particular. And for all the changes in this castle in the last ten years, no one was ever able to tie any complains directly to Dumbledore.“

„A feat I hope each of you will try to channel during the next seven years,“ says an older girl who came to them along with another boy. They both have a prefect badge pinned to their perfectly pressed and completely closed robes. The girl has light brown hair, done in two braids that are pinned as two buns on top of her head, with dark green ribbons holding them in place. There‘s a handful of freckles over her slightly tan face and her dark eyes go over every single one of them, as if counting them. The boy‘s skin is dark shade of brown, not quite Zabini‘s darkness but still in contrast to the girl‘s tanned, but otherwise white complexion. His hair is cut short, just about a centimeter on top of his head, and he just silently watches them with his dark eyes. „One of the unwritten rules of Slytherin is – don‘t get caught.“

„But that can wait.“ The boy‘s voice is quiet, but deep and dark. „Let‘s get them to the common room for the talk, shall we?“

The girl just nods before taking a step back and gesturing for them to follow her.

„You heard him, boys and girls. Come on, our head of house will be by soon enough and we need to talk to you before that.“

Harry notices that they‘re the only group of first years left. It makes sense, he muses. Well, except for Hufflepuffs. Gryffindors and Raveclaws both need to climb to a tower. Hufflepuffs are the closest to the Great Hall, but Slytherins are not that far away. Plus, the dungeon is the most easily defendable position out of all the common rooms.

They truly don‘t go that far. They go down two sets of stairs and then go two times left, once straight at a crossroad, once right and again left. They stop at random in front of an empty wall. Here in the dungeon there aren‘t really that many paintings. But when Harry looks closely, he notices that underneath a nearby torch there‘s a craving of a snake in the stone.

„Fiendfyre,“ the boy says without a trace of any tone in his voice. Harry admires that. He still has problems controlling his temper and he grew up with Thomas Slytherin, Corvinus Lestrange, Emory Nott, and Theodore Flint as adults in charge of his everyday life.

The common room is huge. Harry was expecting that, but he didn‘t quite expect it to be the size of one of their ball rooms back at the castle. There are three distinguished parts of the room – by their right hand there‘s a huge shelf filled to the brims with books covering the walls, so that part of the room is the darkest. There are armchairs and small tables, that are fit with lamps with them. Harry wouldn‘t outright call it a library, but it certainly has a feel of one.

The rest of the room is not that dark – it has big windows providing light. Harry‘s not sure how exactly that works, considering that when he looks out he can see inside the lake that can‘t be light at this time (or at this depth), but it works. By their left hand there are many couches, armchairs, and those strange things in between. There are also three fireplaces in front of which there are always at least three couches facing each other, so bigger groups of people can sit together or even entertain the whole room. Two of those are full – Harry sees Marcus at one of them, so he assumes that‘s the place the quidditch team prefers. He doesn‘t know people at the second spot, but they seem to be the oldest there. Seventh years claiming their right to be comfortable, probably. The last group of couches has only four people there and the rest of the room is pretty full. All four of them have a prefect badge.

The rest of the room is filled with big tables, clearly meant for studying. Although right now people sit here and there, chat, and seem to still be eating and even drinking. Butterbeers are out in the open on the tables, but Harry thinks he saw few people sipping from a firewhiskey bottle. Four tables are smaller, clearly meant for smaller groups, but one table is big, running across the whole room. The kind of table you see in proper libraries.

The prefects take them to the couches near the fireplace where the rest of the prefects sit, but on the other side of it. The boy glares them down, so Harry sits down between Draco and Nott. Nott moves out of his way, pressing himself against the side of the couch in his attempt not to touch Harry. Harry doesn‘t react outright, but makes a note of it. Has Nott already decided he doesn‘t like him?

The boys plus Pansy all squeeze on the couch opposite of the other prefects. The rest of the girls sit on the other couch, closer to them, so there‘s still space left between them and the prefects. They know how to show respect. The boy leans against the sides of the couches, so he‘s sitting in between Pansy and Millicent. The girl sits on the small table in front of them. The boy sneers at her. She rolls her eyes. Suddenly, she seems much more relaxed.

„Oy, give me a break, Nettle. We‘re in our common room, who cares if I sit on a table? Look over there, there‘s a handful of people sitting on the table.“

She‘s not wrong. Harry saw them on his way in.

„You‘re a prefect, Farley.“

That‘s all he says and the prefect, Farley, apparently, rolls her eyes. Then she turns to all the first years and smiles at them.

„Welcome to Slytherin, children.“ Harry wants to point out that she‘s not that older than them, but Draco digs his elbow into his ribs, so he assumes that would be in poor form. „I‘m Gemma Farley, sixth year prefect, and that grump is Oscar Nettle, same year as me. Behind me there are Theresa Higgs, the girl with ridiculously complicated braids,“ in dirty blonde, Harry notes, with light blue eyes and almost dirty smile thrown Emma‘s way for her comment, „and the one hanging to her every word is Gerard Dawlish.“

„Hey!“ A smaller looking boy with hazel eyes and brown hair long enough to curl against his ears tries to argue, but his ears go dark red and his cheeks light pink, so Harry guesses Farley isn‘t that far off.

„And finally,“ Farley continues as if Dawlish didn‘t interrupt her, „our seventh year prefects, Audrey Pyrites and Edmond Bole.“ Pyrites‘ hair is almost as golden as her name would have you believe and done in a fashion very close to Pansy‘s. Her posture is perfect and she gives them one icy look of her icy blue eyes before turning back towards Higgs and continuing their conversation. Bole at least nods at them. He‘s tall, probably taller than the other prefects, and slim. His hair is fashionably ruffled and his dark eyes don‘t sway away from them for a single second. He‘s also tanned from the summer. „Now, we‘re all available to you if you have a problem or just a question, but please, try to come to me and Oscar first. The fifth years have their OWLs to worry about and the seventh years have the NEWTs to do the same.“

„As you noticed, the door to our common room is a wall without any visible way to mark it as a door. Do any of you think you‘d find it again?“ Nettle says it with a small smirk. Harry pushes back the desire to roll his eyes and raises his hand along with Draco and Pansy. He grew up in a castle. He knows how to navigate one. Nettle frowns. „Heir Malfoy, would you like to share with the rest of your classmates?“

„From the Great Hall you go right, down the stairs to the second lower floor, two times left, on the next crossroad straight, once right, and then again left. The door is circa in the middle of the corridor by your right hand. I‘m sure once we‘ll be doing that about four times a day most of it will be automatic.“

„You‘re not wrong.“ Farley seems to be amused by the way Nettle is able to just stare at them, deemed speechless. „Anything else you‘d like to add, Heiress Parkinson, mister Gaunt?“

Harry waits for Pansy to shake her head, before adding: „There‘s snake engraving under a torch by the door. Not sure if there‘s not more of them in the dungeon, though.“

Okay, now Nettle looks speechless. Farley, on the other hand, looks impressed.

„Very well. Still, we have some maps for you to make it easier on you.“ She pulls a bunch of papers from behind her, handing them to Daphne, who takes one and gives the rest to Davis and so on. „The classrooms that are usually used for first years are highlighted, but you will see the details in your timetables tomorrow morning. All years get them at the breakfast on the second of September. Other highlighted places are the Great Hall, the infirmary, and the library.“

„We will take you to breakfast tomorrow morning. Be here no longer than seven thirty or you‘re on your own. If you have trouble with anything in class, feel free to come to me or Gemma. We will find a way to help you, be it explaining things ourselves or finding someone to tutor you. No pupils out in the halls between ten PM and six AM. Now, you all are purebloods or grew up with purebloods and around magical homes, so I don‘t need to explain how elves work. If you need something during the night, you call for Gorrey. He‘s in charge of Slytherin, which includes our common room, dormitories, and all of us. Be it food, drink, or medical attention, you call for him and he‘ll take care of it so you‘re not in trouble.“

„The curfew for first years is nine either way,“ Farley shrugs. „The difference is, after the curfew you‘re obliged to be in your dorm room, preferably sleeping. That curfew goes up in third year and then disappears completely after you take your OWLs. The school can‘t make you sleep, but it can at least set rules so it will help you get a regime.“

„Be warned – we Slytherins stick together, but if we see you out in the common room after nine, we will punish you. We don‘t control your dorm rooms, so it‘s up to you what you do there, but you won‘t be outside.“

„Which brings us to the unwritten rules of Slytherin,“ Farley grins at them. „We stick together. It‘s been getting better over the last ten years, but Slytherins are still largely hated by the rest of Hogwarts. We don‘t care what kind of problems you have with each other, you step out into the castle, you have each other‘s back.“

„And for very similar reasons, we never start fights.“ Harry frowns at Nettle and turns a little to see at Marcus. He‘s listening to the quidditch team, leaning back, butterbeer in one of his hands.

„Not unless we know other ways to flirt,“ adds Farley with another smirk and when Harry turns towards her she winks at him. Harry likes her. „But it still stands – we are hated by mostly everyone else in the school, teachers included. That‘s why we don‘t start fights. But once a fight breaks out, feel free to end it.“

„And if you still have a need to go out and cause trouble, don‘t get caught. If you‘re caught, whatever punishment comes your way is your own fault and Slytherin is not going to help you in any way. Understood?“

They all nod in understanding. Farley relaxes some more and Nettle stands up just to sit down next to Daphne, on the last free space on the couches. Bole, on the other hand, leans closer to them, resting his elbows on his knees.

„Slytherin also has very high standards for grades.“ He says it softly, quietly, but there‘s something threatening in his voice. „You all are expected to keep as good grades as possible. If every one of you could top your year in at least one subject, that would be the best. Once again, you all come from families with strong tradition, so I don‘t have to explain the grading system to you.“ He makes a pause and Harry quickly nods, along with the rest of his classmates. „Anything less than an A is unacceptable. As was already said, you have any problem in any subject, come to us and together we‘ll deal with it.“

„Please, if you could stop scaring the first years now, mister Bole, I‘d be grateful.“

A witch steps out of the shadows behind the rest of the prefects. She‘s maybe few years younger than father, with fair skin and pitch black hair braided on one side, ended in a kind of fancy low-bun. Her robes are traditional, in dark green color with silver lining, once again keeping the Slytherin colors. Her light blue eyes are the most dominant feature of her face.

„Oy, professor!“ some older boy yells, waving a bottle of firewhiskey in greeting. The professor sighs.

„I am trespassing on your space, so I am going to pretend I haven‘t seen the bottle of hard alcohol you‘re drinking in front of the children, mister Schmidt.“

„Thanks, professor,“ is the much less enthusiastic answer. The professor doesn‘t give him another glance. Instead, she leans against the armrest of the couch next to Bole.

„Welcome to Slytherin,“ she nods at the first years. „You were sorted into a very noble house that was home to many great wizards and witches. We can question what greatness means, but many of our graduates reached any definition you‘re probably going to come up with. The truth stands, that many of those were Dark Lords and Ladies. That doesn‘t take away any of their greatness. My name is Septima Vector and I‘m your head of house. I will not see you in class for another two years and even then I‘m sure some of you will opt out of joining my class. I teach the elective subject of arithmancy, and all the classes that are taught on this subject here at Hogwarts. That is still less than many of my colleagues have, so I‘m available to my Slytherins most of the time. I have consulting hours for my arithmancy classes, but you may come to me whenever you want. I do ask that if it‘s during the night you do so over the elves. I‘m sure that was already covered.“ She looks to Bole for his nod. „I have my office and my room on the third floor, on the east side. I‘m sure it‘s highlighted on your maps.“

„It is.“

„Thank you, miss Farley. Now, I‘m sure you‘re overwhelmed and it‘s close to your curfew, so I‘ll let miss Farley and mister Nettle to show you your dormitories. Four people per room is the perfect ratio, so I‘m sure you all will have enough room. There is one last thing you need to know – we will be going for medical examination sometime tomorrow. You will be getting a complete overview of all the medical problems you‘ve had throughout your life, including all the accidents that caused you an injury. It‘s a standard procedure that we do every year. It‘s special for first years only because we need to do overview of your whole life. In the upcoming years it won‘t take as much time, because we will see only the last year. It‘s non-negotiable, set for your own safety. I will come to you when I‘ll know when our time in the infirmary will be.“

Harry notices that throughout the explanation of the medical examination Nott is more stiff next to him than before. He tries not to move himself to not spook him.

„Now, do you have any question for me or the prefects?“

They look at each other first before shaking their heads. Professor Vector smiles at them. It‘s small and hardly there, but it‘s warm.

„Go to bed, everyone. It‘s been a long day and tomorrow will be just as long, if not longer. Miss Farley, mister Nettle, please, show them the communal bathroom and their dorm rooms. And you four – tell me about your holiday. Miss Pyrites, how was the charms seminar in Lyon you were so looking forward to?“

„Alright, children, you heard the woman,“ Farley clasps her hands together. „Boys with Oscar, girls with me. Come on, let‘s get going, I also want to go early to bed.“

There‘s two doors, easily ignored by the shelves full of books. The girls take the one to the right and boys go through the left one. There‘s eight doors in the corridor, four by each side. Right in front of them is a circular window into the lake.

„That‘s you,“ Nettle rasps his knuckles against the first door on the right side. „I won‘t go in there with you. Respect our privacy, never step into a bedroom that‘s not meant for you, and we will respect your privacy, too. Now, you have… forty minutes until curfew. Bathroom is the last door on the right. You better get ready for bed. Professor Vector was right – it‘s been a long day.“

He looks at them expectantly, so Harry steps forward and opens the door.

The room is much bigger than it should be, considering how close the next door is. But that‘s magic for you. Even here are tall windows that bring semi-natural looking light yet you can see into the lake through them. There are four four-poster beds, one in each corner. There‘s always a wardrobe at the wall next to the bed and two big writing desks with a chair in between. In the middle of the room there‘s a sink-in square part that forms a big sofa with just enough floor in between for a low table. All the wooden furniture is made from dark wood and the carpet, the drapes, and even the sofa are all green. It should be too dark, but the windows do a pretty good job with the light. Plus, on each table there‘s a lamp in the same style as the common room – the old type, with a candle in it, that you can take with you so you can see where you‘re going.

Zabini already threw himself at the bed by the right side closer to the door while Draco made his way to the bed on the left side further away from the door. As soon as Zabini lied down a suitcase appeared between the bed and the wardrobe. Draco simply takes his suitcase from his pocket, sets it down, and touches his wand to it. Their fathers made it possible for them to put it back to its original size this way. Harry takes the bed on the left side closer to the door, so Nott simply walks to the last free bed.

„The Farley girl seems like an okay prefect,“ Zabini suddenly speaks up. „But Nettle already looks like he‘s going to be a pain.“

„Maybe he was just trying to scare us,“ Draco simply shrugs.

„Yeah.“ Zabini seems determined to keep the conversation going. Harry doesn‘t mind. In fact, it‘ll probably be easier to get a friendship with all his dorm-mates instead of simply ignoring them. „As long as we keep out of trouble, right?“

„Right,“ Draco says, skepticism dripping from his voice as he looks at Harry. Harry pouts.

„It‘s not like I‘m looking to get into trouble.“

„You always look to get into trouble. Remember that time Vince told you Venomous Tentacula is an explosive ingredient in potions and you had to go and test that proved fact the very next day and you were so hurt you had to spend three days at St. Mungo‘s and then three weeks in bed and your father was so angry-“

„Okay, fine, you made your point. But that was for science. And I never did it again!“

„No, next potion experiment you made Greg do it. Never before I‘ve seen your father speechless.“

„Your father, lord Slytherin, right? So, how come you‘re not the Heir?“

Harry quickly looks up and stares at Zabini. Zabini notices and sighs.

„As you probably guessed, I come from Italy. I was born in Great Britain, which is why I‘ve been signed for this school ever since. I know enough about your lords to get by and to not call someone an Heir when they‘re not one. But you not only don‘t have the title, you also have different name. And we are in private,“ he adds quickly. „So… how come?“

Harry sighs, but goes back to unpacking. Zabini is right, up to a point. And he‘d rather explain it now than in front of everyone.

„Slytherin lordship is more complicated than that. It‘s not just… given to anyone for being born, I need to earn it.“

He quickly glances back to Zabini and to his surprise, Zabini actually looks appreciative, but doesn‘t comment on it.

„Cool. I‘m going to go check the bathroom before Nettle decides he doesn‘t want us out of the bed after nine. Anyone else coming?“

Harry and Draco agree to go with him and with some prodding even Nott agrees to come. They all take their toiletries, towels, and pyjamas and go to the bathroom.

The size of the room no longer surprises Harry. When they open the door there‘s a set of washstands right in front of them, made in something that looks like green marble. In the middle of the room there‘s a huge bathtub that looks more like a swimming pool, once again in green marble. On both left and right sides there are stalls closed by soft green curtain. It takes the boys only a moment to realize that the left side is toilets and the right side showers. On the wall opposite of the washstands there‘s five square bathtubs made of marble where you can sit down in hot water. It‘s less a bathroom and more a spa, if you ask Harry. There‘s even a shelf full of fluffy white towels.

It‘s similar to something Malfoys have in their manor, except this is even bigger.

Harry takes a shower, as do Nott and Draco. Zabini isn‘t even a little bit shy and goes for a swim in the pool – he truly is able to swim from one end to another, so definitely more a pool than a bath. Only then he showers.

„We really need to check the hot water tubs some time.“

Harry agrees, but by then he really is ready for bed. He‘s happy to go back to his room and collapse to his bed. It takes him a moment to draw closed the curtains on his bed, but then he does it without having to touch his wand, so he counts that as a win.

He‘s out of it not even five minutes later.


	3. And that is why I love teaching Ravenclaws with Slytherins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of school is always eventful. At Hogwarts, it's just more interesting than your avarage school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native english speaker and am not sure what is British Enaglish and what is American English on any given day. I tried to keep to the British English, but I'm not sure how successfull I was.  
> Also, there's some cursing. Children curse, that's just a fact, especielly when it's just between them and no adult can hear them. I... might have used some very strong language for eleven year olds. But I decided not to censore it because... well, I myself curse a lot, there's a lot of cursing in any of my fics, and I have no idea how children talk or behave, but I'm pretty sure they do curse.  
> Anyway. That's all I wanted to add.  
> Enjoy Harry's first day of school!

Harry wakes up just after six in the morning, with enough time to take a shower before the day starts. He doesn‘t feel dirty per se, but he learned that a shower in the morning is a very good way to start a day. A run and a shower is his favorite way to start it, but he wants to first figure out where he can go running before starting that routine again.

He‘s careful to open the curtains around his bed silently, but as he steps away he still notices that someone‘s already sitting on the couches in the middle of the room, the lamp next to them. Or rather, Theodore Nott is curled with his blanket around a book that Harry is sure they don‘t have on the list of books they‘re supposed to have for the first year. Quietly, he creeps on Nott to see what exactly it is he‘s reading. To his surprise, it‘s a book on transfiguration theory, not really one for beginners. Harry tries to read some, but he hardly understands most of it.

„You understand all that?“

Nott yelps and jumps up so hard that the thick book topples over and ends up falling to the floor with a loud thump. Harry chuckles as he looks at the book, but when he looks back at Nott he‘s moved back into the corner of the couch, looking up at Harry with terrified eyes. Harry stops when he sees that.

„I‘m sorry!“ Nott whispers it, his voice wavering. „I didn‘t mean to wake you up.“

Harry frowns.

„You didn‘t. I‘m used to getting up early. Father insisted on me getting up early to run. I assume it‘s the same for you?“ Harry grins at Nott easily, expecting him to join in on the joke. But instead Nott looks down, curling even closer into himself. Harry just stares at him for a moment, not sure what to do. „Well, I‘m off to showers. See you later, Nott.“

He takes his things and almost runs away from the room. He does take a shower, a long one because he‘s not in a hurry.

He expects he‘ll be alone for a long time, but he can‘t be in the shower for longer than five minutes when someone else comes in. And then even more people do. Harry is more than aware that he‘s no longer alone, so he somewhat hurries his shower. The shower stalls are actually very well made – there‘s the curtain that separates you from the rest of the room, where you have the room to strip and then put on clothes again. The shower is separated from that space with another curtain. It‘s pretty well done and while Harry knows that he‘s probably going to eventually end up naked in the main room to swim in the huge bathtub or even just sit in the small bathtub to relax, he appreciates it.

When he makes it back to the bedroom it‘s only half past six and all three beds have the curtains tightly shut. Harry frowns at the bed that Nott occupied last night. He‘s pretty sure that Nott‘s not sleeping anymore. It would be foolish to go to sleep not even an hour before you have to get up.

As he puts his pyjamas on his bed, an alarm goes off behind Draco‘s curtain. Harry smiles as he puts on his school tie. He hates that the school uniform is the open kind of robe. He doesn‘t mind the trousers that much (they are much more practical for running around and so he wears similar trousers when he‘s just running around the castle), but the shirt is from a fabric that is unfamiliar to Harry and it‘s not really comfortable to him. He likes the tie, though. He still closes the robe all the way up. It doesn‘t have the same effect as the traditional robe, but it will do.

The alarm from Draco‘s bed goes off again, but it‘s Zabini‘s curtain that moves to reveal his frowning face.

„It‘s not even quarter till seven yet. Why is his alarm going off and why are you awake for that matter?“

Well, Zabini is not a morning person.

„He needs about an hour to get ready. I‘m used to getting up early.“ Then he grins at him. „Want to see how I usually get him up?“

Zabini frowns at him, so Harry simply gets his wand. Wandlessly he opens Draco‘s curtains, before muttering: „Aguamenti.“ The stream of water lands straight at Draco‘s face. Draco is on his feet in no time at all, spluttering about.

„Harrison Corvinus Gaunt!“

„Don‘t pull full name on me, Draco Lucius Malfoy.“

„Don‘t spray water on me before seven AM, then!“

„Shut up, you morons,“ Zabini interrupts them sharply, but he‘s smiling. „Nott‘s still sleeping.“

Harry doubts that, but he doesn‘t comment. He‘s used to getting Draco get ready on time, so he verbally abuses him long enough for him to go shower and then sneaks into the bathroom to turn his water into a cold one to get him out of the shower at seven sharp. Then he watches him do his hair for ten minutes straight, ignoring all the other boys who go in and out. Some of them stare at him, still in full uniform, but most simply ignore them. After the ten minutes he makes Draco leave the bathroom. Luckily, Draco brushed his teeth first before doing his hair.

„I‘m not done!“

„Your hair‘s fine, let‘s get you in the uniform. I‘m not letting you make us miss the walk to the Great Hall. Come on, move it, we both know you take forever to dress.“

„Have you seen the robes they have us wear? It‘s a disgrace.“

Harry doesn‘t disagree, so he simply makes him dress quickly and put everything into his bag. Their bags have the undetected expansion charm on them, along with lightening charm, so they can easily fit every single textbook they‘re supposed to have along with some quills and strolls in there. In fact, their bags have a different compartment for scrolls and quills, so they won‘t be destroyed as they go along on their day.

Somehow, Zabini manages to get completely ready in the time between Harry and Draco coming back from the bathroom and being ready to go out again. Nott‘s curtains draw back, but he stops in his track as he sees them.

„Ready to go?“ Harry grins at him. „Great, so are we. Let‘s go.“

They‘re five minutes early, but the girls are already there, sitting at the same couch they were sitting yesterday evening. They‘re all in uniform, all pressed and all buttoned up. Their hair is done in the exact same styles as yesterday, but Harry knows better than to comment on such a thing. Farley is with them, Nettle just few steps behind. As soon as the boys arrive he joins them.

„Great, you‘re all here and on time. That‘s good. Now, breakfast officially starts at eight o‘clock, but if you come after seven thirty the elves usually send you at least some tea and toast. Now, after we let you think some more – do you have any questions?“

„When does breakfast end?“

„At nine thirty, but the first class starts at nine and first years usually have all the classes in the morning, so don‘t count on you sleeping in.“

„Also, if you skip breakfast regularly, professor Vector gets notified and trust me, you don‘t want that.“

Zabini doesn‘t look that happy about that, but luckily he doesn‘t have any more questions, so they all go to the Great Hall. They‘re way too early there, only few Raveclaws sit at their table, mostly with books in front of them, about five Hufflepuffs are huddled together in the middle of their table, and Marcus sits at the Slytherin table, going through some papers. As they go around him and Harry nods at him, he sees that the papers are written all over by familiar writing. Marcus‘ notes and ideas about plays, then. Harry should have known.

They sit down at the end of the table closest to the little podium. Farley makes sure they all have their maps (Harry has to promise to keep close to Draco, because as he made sure Draco had everything, he forgot his map. But he was planning to keep close to his best friend either way) before going away to sit with Nettle.

Harry listens to Pansy and Daphne‘s gossip (how they know who‘s dating who when Harry hardly recognizes the names is beyond him) and Zabini and Draco snap at each other (neither of them apparently a morning person). Davis seems more asleep than awake and Millicent and Nott keep quiet, looking into their cups of tea and not interacting with anyone. Harry tries to make them talk, asking Millicent about their bedroom, asking Nott about his book, but neither answers properly. Millicent just says that it‘s good and Nott doesn‘t even answer in words. He just flinches away and whispers something. Harry hates it.

More and more people trickle in as the time goes by. Even some Gryffindors turn up before eight, but it‘s mostly Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and to some degreee, Ravenclaws. It makes sense in the context of how far away the common rooms are, Harry thinks.

At eight sharp the tables full with food. There‘s pancakes and eggs and porridge and cereals and bacon and sausages and fresh fruit and pastry and Harry is pretty sure he can see even more exotic breakfasts down the table. Along with tea there‘s also a pitcher of water in the middle of the table every few feet with few smaller ones with juices and some glasses around it. It‘s amazing and Harry is honestly impressed with the work the elves do here.

The noises in the hall go down as everyone starts to eat, before they go back up again because what seems like half the Gryffindor arrives to their table for their breakfast.

Fifteen minutes after the breakfast starts professor Vector appears at their part of the table. She hands out every timetable to a concrete pupil, stopping at Davis for a moment before smoothly continuing down the line. Harry takes the timetable and immediately checks the plan for the day. Seems like Monday is the fun day – charms with Ravenclaws, potions with Gryffindors, Latin with Hufflepuffs, and then transfiguration once again with Raveclaws. The most diverse plan from all of their days.Harry assumes that it‘s the theory lesson for all of those classes. Not that Latin has any other kind of class.

„Of all the possible subjects we have to share potions and defense with Gryffindors, don‘t we,“ Draco sneers as he looks over it. „The classes with the highest chances of an accident.“

„Take it the other way – we have only two subjects with them.“

„Three, technically,“ Zabini drags out, frowning at his cup of tea. „Astronomy is a class shared among all the houses.“

„And thanks to that it doesn‘t count. If we‘re careful enough we‘ll get both Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in between us.“

„It‘s still not so bad,“ tries Harry. „We have three subjects with Hufflepuffs, one of which meets three times a week. We‘re literally seeing them every day of the week. That could have been Gryffindors.“

Draco looks horrified of the prospect and Harry smirks. Zabini snorts into his tea.

„I know Gryffindors and Slytherins are supposed to be mortal enemies, but why? Weren‘t Godrick Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin bonded?“

Harry and Draco smirk at each other, before nodding at Zabini.

„They were. But no one was able to claim the Gryffindor title since fourteenth century and turns out Slytherin heirs were dicks. And for some reason Slytherins were ostracized for centuries, so...“

„So, when ten years ago lord Slytherin emerged with paintings of the founders and the true version of their relationship and what happened all those years ago, it wasn‘t simply… accepted by everyone.“

„The Gryffindors have been the heroes and the Slytherins the villains for… well, at least a century now. It‘s hard to overhaul that way of thinking in ten years.“

Zabini frowns some more.

„For a nation who‘s proud about its history and is set in its traditions, you guys seem to forget most of those traditions.“

Harry frowns at Zabini, but nods at him. He‘s not wrong.

There‘s some commotion at the Gryffindor table, right where the first years sit. Professor Longbottom stands there, staring at the boys section of her first years. Harry can see that Christopher Potter is trying to argue with the stern witch, but she‘s having none of it.

They leave the Great Hall twenty minutes before the class is supposed to start, with plenty of time to find the classroom. Technically speaking, there are two charms classrooms, but one of them is for NEWTs students, so they‘re obviously headed towards the other one. The Lily Evans classroom.

Harry is… somewhat nervous about meeting his biological mother for the first time. Not because he thinks about her in any parental capacity. His father is enough for him in that field, thank you very much. But from what he heard from the adults (eavesdropped, really, but no one ever says anything interesting in front of him!), Lily Evans never stopped believing that her firstborn is alive somewhere. What if she… well, recognizes Harry?

Obviously, that fear is unfounded and nothing really happens. Lily Evans seems nice enough. She takes attendance before introducing herself and in few sentences sums up what the class is supposed to teach them and what they should be able to do when they take their OWLs, along with the practical use of charms. She asks if anyone already had teachers before coming to Hogwarts. The only people not to raise their hands are two Ravenclaws and, surprisingly, Nott. Turns out both Ravenclaws are muggleborn and Nott has been studying, but his instructor has been his father. Nott‘s voice wavers slightly as he says so.

„Great. I expect all of you to help Sue and Michael and hopefully, we‘ll all be able to move into the more interesting, practical parts soon. Now, who read the first two chapters of your textbooks?“ Every single pupil raises their hand. Lily Evan‘s eyes sparkle as she smiles at them. „Alright! Who read the whole textbook?“ There‘s not a single arm going down and professor Evans laughs. „Great, that‘s great. I expect all of you to prepare your questions for our Thursday class. We will go over everything and if you‘re all able to explain the theory behind the most essential charms, we will be able to move to practice sooner than expected. And that is why I love teaching Ravenclaws with Slytherins.“

Turns out, Lily Evans is much cooler than her status of Gryffindor mother of the Boy-who-lived would let you believe. For start, she doesn‘t seem prejudiced against Slytherins at all. In fact, she does look delighted when she randomly asks questions and every single one of them is answered. Harry notices that she doesn‘t call out Sue Li or Michael Corner, the two muggleborns in the class. He also notices that while Sue Li‘s hair is too short to be put in a proper braid, she has them tied in two cute looking buns on top of her head and that both her and Corner are making notes throughout the class.

After the class is over, they have fifteen minutes to get from sixth floor to the dungeon. Thankfully, the potion lab the first five years have is on the first floor of the dungeon, not the third like the one NEWTs level students go to. But still, the castle is pretty big, so fifteen minutes is just enough for them to arrive. Not enough time for bathroom break. Harry doesn‘t like that.

Professor Slughorn is old and fat and from what Harry understands, he stays just because his father asked him to and he likes being indebted to lord Slytherin. The lab, unlike Slytherin common room and dormitories, doesn‘t have windows, but it does have lamps floating up high in the air, providing light and even warmth.

Sharing class with Gryffindors is not as easy as sharing it with Ravenclaws. For one thing, Gryffindors are much louder than Ravenclaws. Even when the teacher comes in and starts taking attendance they keep moving and muttering and whispering to one another. Harry is distracted and he doesn‘t like it.

When Slughorn asks who read the first chapter of the book, the only Gryffindor to raise her hand is the Granger girl and for some reason, she looks disappointed when all of Slytherin raises their hand, too. And when Slughorn asks them who read the whole book and once again not a single hand goes down, she downright stares at them. Well, someone is trying to prove she‘s better than everyone else.

„Excellent, excellent! Twenty points to Slytherin. And of course, five points to Gryffindor for miss Granger.“

Harry doesn‘t like that either. If it‘s five points per person who read the book, it‘s supposed to be fourty points to Slytherin, not twenty. Wasn‘t Slughorn Slytherin himself? Hell, father says he was head of Slytherin house when father attended Hogwarts!

Slughorn then launches into a speech similar to what professor Evans had – he explains that most of their first year will be covering the basics and that if they‘re going to do potions, it will be some basic lotion, not a proper potion. Harry is bored before the speech runs into its half. When Slughorn promises them that in their Friday lesson they‘re going to go over what different instructions mean and the differences between slicing and dicing, Harry gives up on the subject completely.

He‘s been learning that stuff since he was five, brewing with Severus Snape since he was eight. He has no patience for that nonsense.

After that it‘s back to fifth floor for them. Harry is more than happy that father made him go on all those running laps during the years. Without them, Harry is not sure how he‘d deal with all of that.

Latin is better and worse than potions. Better, because they have it with Hufflepuffs, and even though they‘re all giggly and smile-y, they mostly respect Slytherin‘s personal space and once they settle at desks, they focus on the teacher. Worse because Harry‘s been taking Latin classes for years. He‘s been reading Latin books for at least two years now – the perks of having a millennium old library with texts about any thing you can think of. Harry found an old textbook from Roman era wizarding school.

Professor Baldwin is as young as professor Evans. Harry thinks that she‘s a language prodigy. She‘s wearing a respectable robe with trousers and a blouse underneath it. Harry doesn‘t exactly like open robes, but at least she wears respectable clothes underneath it, unlike so many other people. Her hair, so similar to Granger‘s, is in tight braids and she has a kind look to her.

The same routine follows – she takes attendance, but instead of asking about the textbook right away she asks about muggleborns. There‘s three muggleborns in Hufflepuff house that year. Professor Baldwin smiles at them.

„Don‘t worry, children. This class is part of the curriculum to help you with the rest of your classes. Most of the spells we use today, and almost all you‘re going to learn here at Hogwarts, are delivered from Latin. Latin is compulsory up to your fifth year and you will take OWLs in it. By that time you should be able to not only understand every spell someone throws at you, but possibly, if you have enough patience, enough understanding of arithmancy, and just a bit of talent, you might be able to come up with your own spells, too.“

Now that‘s an exciting prospect.

„Now, how many of you have already learned some Latin?“

Greg and Vince raise their hands along with Slytherins.. Except for Millicent. Harry files that information for later.

„Excellent. For our next class on Wednesday I‘m going to prepare a seating chart. I will pair those of you who took Latin classes with those who haven‘t. That way we‘ll hopefully be able to progress quickly for those who didn‘t learn and this class won‘t be such a bore for those of you who have. I can imagine that for years I won‘t be able to teach you anything new, but do have patience with your classmates, would you? Now, have all of you read the introduction to your textbook?“

They all read first few chapters and Slytherins and four Hufflepuffs all of the book. Harry is interested to notice that one of the four Hufflepuffs is Justin Finch-Fletchley, one of the muggleborns.

That class lets off early and their next one, transfiguration, is just one floor bellow. Finally, it‘s time for a bathroom break. When he comes back, Draco is bickering with Zabini and Pansy is happily whispering with Daphne and Davis. (Should he call Daphne Greengrass now? It‘s not like they‘re on speaking terms, but he‘s been calling her Daphne as long as he can remember.) He turns to Millicent and Nott, but he doesn‘t really know Nott and Millicent used to be friendly enough with him.

„Hey, Millicent,“ he smiles at her, careful not to be too free in the hallway, but easily enough for her to see that he‘s open to friendship. „How do you like Hogwarts so far?“

Millicent looks at him with suspicious eyes, but she always did that. Finally, she simply shrugs.

„It‘s nice. Pretty big, though. I‘m sure we could do with half that space.“

Harry smiles. She‘s not wrong.

„I wanted to ask – what‘s with the Latin? I know you were tutored same as us.“

Millicent shrugs.

„She asked if we learned Latin. Not if we were tutored.“

Harry frowns at that. If she‘s been tutored in Latin for five years, as Harry suspects she has been, surely she learned something.

The Ravenclaws arrive and somehow, Terry Boot gets in between Draco and Zabini and right into an argument. Draco‘s animated face grows cold and distant and just a touch of sneer touches it. Harry supposes Boot does deserve it. His robe is wide open and his shirt is untucked from his trousers, his tie hanging loose around his neck. Harry knows Terry Boot is a pureblood, but he doesn‘t act like one.

Transfiguration is more of the same, except that professor Longbottom doesn‘t have any of the kindness of the rest of their teachers. She seems strict, lying out the rules for her class in a voice that doesn‘t allow for anyone to complain. Harry can appreciate it – transfiguration theory is by far the most complicated theory he‘s ever studied. And he did go over the basics of arithmancy just before the summer started.

Professor Longbottom doesn‘t waste time asking them if they read the book. Instead, she asks questions about history of transfiguration that was covered in the first chapter. It‘s rapid fire and she just nods every time the question is answered right. Which is with every question. Harry‘s starting to think that he‘s going to like having classes with Ravenclaws. And Longbottom doesn‘t seem to favor Ravenclaws over Slytherins when she chooses who should answer her questions.

Finally, professor Longbottom nods and smiles a quick, sharp smile.

„Very well. Two points for every answered question. You did well, so I assume I can skip the history part of the introduction. On Wednesday I will prepare a lecture about the basic theory behind transfiguration covered in chapters two to five. I expect you to study it on your own, so I can add to it in the first half of our two hour unit and then we can go over your questions during the second part. Any questions?“ She waits a moment, scanning them with intense eyes. Harry is impressed with how easily she controls the room. „No? Good. I expect you to have them on Wednesday, though. Class dismissed.“

Lunch is very similar to what breakfast was in the terms of food – there‘s a lot of options, from meat and potatoes through rice with different sauces (Harry sees even some Indian options there) to pasta, there‘s anything and everything Harry ever had for lunch back at home. Harry loves the options. He‘s sure that it will stay the same throughout the year, but thanks to how many options there are he‘s pretty sure he won‘t have a problem with that.

The atmosphere is more relaxed than it was during breakfast. Daphne still ignores Harry, but Millicent joins their conversations and Harry feels comfortable enough to chuckle at Zabini‘s jokes. It‘s good.

Just as they‘re talking about going to the library professor Vector comes to them.

„Great, you‘re all here. The introductory class for the muggle raised children is right after lunch. Because we don‘t have anyone taking this class, that‘s our slot for the medical exam in the infirmary. Are you all done with your lunch?“ She waits for all of them to nod. „Great. Let‘s go. The sooner we go, the more time you will have after that to do whatever you want to do.“

As they leave the Great Hall and go to the stairs, they pass fuming James Potter. He doesn‘t spare them a glance as he marches into the Great Hall. Well, that should be interesting. Harry assumes he‘s going to hear about it later.

The infirmary is on the third floor, in a wing that‘s pretty isolated from the rest of the castle. There‘s a mediwitch and three healers waiting for them there. The healers all look pretty young, but then again they‘re not expected to deal with any big injuries today, so Harry assumes it makes sense to send young healers to get some experience instead of old, experienced ones who are needed in the hospital in case of something going terribly wrong. And with magic you need to always assume the worst when an accident happens.

„Welcome to the infirmary,“ the mediwitch with Hogwarts logo on her robes smiles at them. „My name is Madam Pomfrey and my infirmary is always open to you, no matter what you think is wrong with you or the hour of the day or night. If you need any kind of potion, ladies, I‘m here for you.“ She gives the girls in the room a look and pauses for a moment. „Now, me and these healers St. Mungos was so kind to lend us for the week, are going to do a standard examination for the first years that was authorized by the Hogwards Board of Governors and has been in place for five years now. This is the sixth year we‘re doing this. Your head of house will stay in the room and check on every one of you during your examinations. The examination is non-invasive, so we can do it right here in the open, but we do need you to strip to your underwear, so if you‘d prefer to do it in private we can also do that. Does someone want that option?“

They exchange unsure glances. Harry kind of expects Pansy and maybe Daphne to ask for the private option. They were never shy around each other, their parents never dividing them by their gender for anything. But they are nearing the age when bonding starts to be relevant. They don‘t know yet what their preference is going to be, but soon it will be inappropriate to be almost naked around each other. But they are still children and there are five adults in charge to look after them and it is for medical reasons. In the end, the only one who asks for a private medical examination is Nott. Strange, but the boy has been a little bit strange the whole day.

Nott goes behind a curtain around one of the beds with one of the healers and Madam Pomfrey turns towards the rest of them with a smile.

„Now, for the rest of you – let‘s get the girls first, shall we? Ladies, three of you strip and come to me and the healers.“

Daphne, Pansy, and Davis start stripping immediately. Harry gets on a free bed and watches the process.  The girls strip so they‘re only in their high socks and underwear, including tank tops, w hen they  step in front of a healer. Or Madam Pomfrey. They do some complicated looking movements with their wands, muttering long words in  L atin as they go. A soft glow appears where their wands point  at and they slowly move it down and back up their bodies. A pa rchment  appears next to each girl and it grows as the spells go on. It doesn‘t grow that much, though. About five inches for Pansy, who has the longest pa rchment of all of them.

„Everything looks great here. Although you do tend to injure yourself more than your classmates, I can see that those were all accidents. Your magical core is developing nicely and you keep your body in pretty good condition. Well done, heiress Parkinson.“ Madam Pomfrey smiles at Pansy and Pansy smirks as she goes to put back on her uniform. Daphne and Davis have similar results, minus the comments about too many injuries. „Come on, miss Bullstrode. Boys.“

Harry and Draco move so quickly that Zabini doesn‘t even get off the bed by the time they stand next to the healers, their robes already off. Zabini glares at them, but Harry ignores him.

The healer that went with Nott sticks his head out from behind the curtains right then.

„Professor Vector? Can you come in, please?“

Vector frowns, but hurries over. Harry frowns at that. That can‘t be good.

The examination kind of tingles. The scroll next to Harry gets longer than he expected. Millicent‘s is pretty short, Draco‘s grows somewhat longer than Pansy‘s, but Harry‘s grows for good five minutes. The healer frowns, takes the scroll, and sighs.

„You are a pretty active child, mister Gaunt, aren‘t you?“

Harry shrugs. He likes to learn and the best way to learn is to try everything. He did have his fair share of accidents.

„Is that a bad thing?“

The healer once again scans the scroll before shaking his head.

„No, everything looks like it was an accident and I can see that you received proper health care right after. Your magical core… well, it is quite impressive, mister Gaunt. You are fit, you obviously take care of both your body and your magic… I think we‘re done here. Keep up the good work.“

The healer smiles at him, so he allows himself a small smile as he nods at him.

He puts his clothes back on and joins the girls a few steps away. They talk about their favorite food, so he happily shares his love for that one little restaurant in the middle of a wizarding village in India he and his father sometimes visit. They befriended a wizard who also speaks parseltongue and lives there. Daphne turns her nose at that and starts talking about some restaurant in France, but really – they all go to France regularly. And Harry doesn‘t even like French cuisine that much. Draco, the traitor, takes Daphne‘s side, but then again, Draco has always been a pretentious bastard.

Professor Vector steps out from behind the curtains with a frown. She takes all of their scrolls and skims through them. The last healer hands her Zabini‘s scroll when Zabini‘s putting his uniform back on. Vector nods and smiles at them.

„Very well. You‘re all in excellent physical forms and most of your magical cores seem to still grow, but settle nicely. Alright, why don‘t you go check the library? I‘m sure you have plenty of work to do after your first day of classes.“

„Um, professor Vector? Is Nott okay?“

Vector turns her sharp eyes on him. After a while, she smiles at him.

„There‘s no need to be worried. Mister Nott should be able to join you for dinner. There‘s no reason for you to waste your afternoon here, too.“

„But professor Vector, aren‘t Slytherins supposed to stick together?“

„Yes. As long as the Slytherin in question wants you to, which mister Nott doesn‘t. If he wants you to know what‘s going on, he will tel you himself. Now, please, go. The Ravenclaws are supposed to be here soon and we don‘t want to keep this too crowded or make them nervous, do we?“

Grudgingly, Harry listens. But he doesn‘t like it.


	4. Cherry muffins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James Potter at Hogwarts and second day of school for Harry.

Severus never thought that he‘d enjoy sitting at a table full of Gryffindors. But that‘s what happened with his life in the last ten years.

The therapy his Lord forced him to go to was… eye-opening. He went there for years, dealing with… well, most of his life, really. The abuse his father did on him. The neglect his mother showed him. The isolation he felt in Slytherin as a muggle raised halfblood whose school didn‘t provide him with enough support to learn everything he needed to know about the wizarding world. The spiraling he did with Death Eaters already in Slytherin. The unhealthy obsession with Lily Evans, his best and only friend for years and years.

By the time Lily started working at Hogwarts he was much better. He also understood what went wrong all those years ago and how to make it better. So the first thing he did when Lily came to Hogwarts was an apology. Few weeks later, he asked if she would consider giving him another chance as a friend. She was skeptical, but Lily Evans was always kind.

By now, they‘re back to best friends. Mostly because Severus doesn‘t really have any other friends (well, he is friends with Lucius, making him godfather of Draco, but they‘re… they‘re friends, but their lives are really different nowadays. He‘s always happy to babysit or even lecture his godson, but that‘s not enough to keep friendship with his father) and Lily kind of got out of touch with her friends after her divorce with James Potter.

Except for Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, surprisingly. Severus makes sure he‘s never anywhere near Lily when they‘re visiting, but the fact that they left James Potter for Lily Evans is still… shocking.

So yeah, a lot has changed and now Severus spends most of his meals at a table with Lily Evans, Minerva McGonagall, and Augusta Longbottom. And he‘s supposed to call all of them by their first name. It‘s a little surreal.

Augusta and Lily are talking about the first years. Apparently, they both have Raveclaw and Slytherin first years theory classes on Monday mornings. Severus and Minerva on the other hand each have one double class that morning – Minerva of sixth years and Severus of seventh years. Severus doesn‘t like those first classes after holidays, but he is looking forward to brewing with his classes. Sure, he will get few people who take it just because Aurors require NEWT from potions, but others who take NEWT in potions are actually interested. Plus, there‘s always at least a small group of Ravenclaws and Slytherins who get competitive and in this competition usually come up with interesting ideas for potions.

Of course, that‘s when James Potter bursts into the Great Hall. Lily and Augusta next to Severus sigh.

„It took him almost six whole hours. I expected him to burst into my class with third years,“ Augusta says without her voice even wavering, stirring her tea all the while. She takes a sip as James marches on.

„Dad!“

„Yes, Chris, I‘m on it. Augusta!“

Augusta tenses and Severus quickly hides his snort behind a cough. Lily rolls her eyes, but smirks at him, before slowly putting her napkin next to her plate.

„James Flaemont Potter!“ Augusta does not bother to keep her voice down. „Don‘t you dare use that tone with me. You‘re not so old that I can‘t bend you over my knee.“

Severus thanks Magic for all the years in Slytherin common room that taught him to keep his face neutral. The nearest children are not so skilled. Mostly because they‘re the first years. And Gryffindors. When Severus glances at him, Chris Potter‘s face is dark red.

„Now, do you want to make a scene or do you want to go to my office?“

„Why are you making my son take the Introduction to the Wizarding World class? He grew up in the wizarding world.“

„Scene it is, then,“ sighs Augusta, before leaning back in her chair. „I‘ve been having problems with the way my Gryffindors behave since I took the position of the Head of house. I decided to start early, by making sure they get the proper education. Besides, in the case of Christopher Potter, I consulted with a parent.“

„No, you didn‘t, I would never let that happen.“

„We might be divorced, James, and you might have the custody, but I‘m still his mother.“

„What do you know about tradition? You‘re a muggleborn!“

There‘s a wave going through the Great Hall. Lily blinks in surprise at the Slytherin table when they are the most vocal about their outrage for once. Severus smirks at her. She‘s more open to Slytherins than even Minerva and Augusta, but she still doesn‘t understand the principles that Slytherins hold. And especially during the last ten years, as the relationship between Slytherin and the rest of the castle started mending and muggleborns started to be introduced to wizarding culture, Slytherins became more protective over wizarding culture in general, but mostly about muggleborns trying to learn that culture in particular. And most Slytherins are protective over Lily Evans, the kind charms teacher who‘s still learning all the customs of wizarding culture and is always ready to listen when Slytherins get too excited about some aspect of it.

„Yes. And thanks to that I‘m very aware of how you ignore most of our traditions in everyday life. I‘m all for Chris attending that class. And all the Weasley boys before Ron appreciated that class, so I don‘t see a problem with either of them going there.“

„Well, that just shows how little you know, miss know-it-all.“

There‘s a sudden silence. Lily just sighs, leaning on her elbow on the table.

„You weren‘t able to offend me with that when we were thirteen, you‘re certainly not going to do so now. Chris attends those classes and that‘s my final word. You have a problem with it, sue me, take this decision in front of Wizengamot. I‘m sure the wizarding world will want to know that you don‘t want the boy-who-lived to have a proper education in his own culture.“

Lily smiles such a sweet smile that Severus is proud of her. She‘s always been smart and mischievous, but lately as she‘s been more open to Slytherin influences, she learned to hone those skills.

James frowns and turns his angry stare at Severus.

„This is your fault, Snivellius.“

„Don‘t call Severus that!“

„See? You‘re on his side now. It‘s all his fault!“

„Please, by the time the two of us even started talking again we were long divorced. How is that his fault?“

„Children, please.“ Severus really needs to hold in the snort that threatens to escape when it dawns that Minerva just called James Potter a child. „Let‘s go to Augusta‘s office. It‘s on the way to the Introductory class, so Christopher and Ronald can join us. I‘m going to ask them few questions concerning our culture. If they can answer all of them, they don‘t have to go to the class. If they can‘t, they will be attending. Is that acceptable?“

James and Lily both nod, staring at each other. Severus moves closer to Lily.

„I need to see that.“ Lily glares at him. „Come on. I know you love your son, but he was raised by James.“

Lily rolls her eyes, but nods as she gets up. Severus hurries up to join her. James sneers at him.

„Snivellius isn‘t coming.“

„And I say he is. Minerva?“

„Just for that nickname, James, Severus is coming.“

„But-“

„Not another word. Mister Potter, mister Weasley, please, join us.“

The walk to Augusta‘s office is tense. Chris Potter keeps complaining that he needs to prove something and Weasley seems to not grasp the idea of a test before taking a class.

„Why is Snape coming to the office with us?“

Severus frowns at the brat. He never even met him! While Severus had the honor to tutor Harrison (and yes, he knows who Harrison Gaunt is, he‘d have to be stupid not to), he never really met Christopher Potter. And hopefully, he never will. But if he knows the Potters at all (which, sadly, he does), Christopher will want to become an Auror and so he will be stuck with him in five years. Well, one can always hope.

„Because your mother wants him here and your father still doesn‘t know how to behave. Now, mister Potter, let‘s suppose you were invited to the Slytherin annual Yule ball. How do you greet the host?“

Christopher makes a face.

„Happy holidays, lord Slytherin?“

Minerva waits for a moment for him to continue, but he doesn‘t. Honestly, Severus is kind of impressed he didn‘t wish him merry Christmas.

„Mister Weasley. Why do girls age nine and older tie their hair up?“

„I don‘t know, because they‘re snobs who think it makes them better than us?“

Severus notices that Lily subconsciously touches the braid crown she prefers to wear during the school year. During holidays she usually experiments with various hairstyle charms, but during the school year she prefers to use the one she‘s most used to. Of course it‘s one of the more complex ones, but that‘s Lily. She starts big and never goes simple.

„Mister Potter, what are the rules for inheriting a lordship, in general?“

„Being the first born son and reaching seventeenth birthday.“

Once again not true. First born, yes, son, not necessary. Seventeen, yes, but your family seat at the Wizengamot also needs to approve you. Usually the Heir seat, which is what happens when Lords or Ladies take their Heirs to see the Wizengamot before they abdicate. So yes, Christopher Potter‘s definition is what‘s usually said to a child when they ask. But as they grow, they‘re supposed to be told the finer details.

„Mister Weasley, when was the Azkaban prison established?“

„Um, fifteenth century?“

„Mister Potter, when was the Wizengamot established?“

„Eleventh century.“

Technically right, but Severus is pretty sure that Minerva expected a concrete year.

„Mister Weasley, the same for Ministry of Magic in England?“

„Uh, eighteenth century?“

„Now, lord Potter. Are you able to answer all of those questions?“

„What do you mean? Chris got all the answers right.“

Minerva looks at James with disappointment and Lily sighs.

„Oh, James. And you‘re surprised he needs that class?“

„What do you know? As if Slytherin would invite you to his castle.“

„It‘s very enchanting, Slytherin castle. The last Yule ball lord Slytherin opened up the winter garden for us. It was full of fairy lights and truly enchanting. Wouldn‘t you say so, Severus?“

„I don‘t know, Lily. I liked the library better.“

James stares at them, but it‘s Chris who speaks up.

„You were inside, mum? How could you?! You know who he is.“

Lily sighs.

„I know who Dumbledore says he is, Chris. But I met him and he‘s been nothing but polite to me. He even asked me if I have more ideas about what muggleborn students would find useful when they come to Hogwarts. I honestly don‘t know what Dumbledore‘s problem with him is. He‘s never been anything but respectful and nice to me.“

As James, Chris, and Weasley storm off, Severus watches Lily for long moments. Maybe she‘s ready for a talk with his Lord after all.

***

Nott comes back to dinner. He doesn‘t speak and his shoulders are hunched over, but that‘s not exactly new. He doesn‘t look… hurt. Or sick. Harry still smiles at him and asks how he is, but Nott just quietly answers that he‘s fine and doesn‘t hold eye contact with Harry. Harry keeps trying – talks about the library the rest of the Slytherins checked out and the reading for transfiguration that most of them started, but Nott doesn‘t seem like he‘s listening.

On Tuesday, they have herbology with Hufflepuffs and defense with Gryffindors. Professor Sprout is nice enough, even though their first two hours are spent in a classroom on the first floor going over what they‘re going to learn this year and what safety protocols they have to follow no matter what. At the end of that professor Sprout walks to the greenhouses with them to show them the way, though, and that‘s nice. Daphne and Davis seem to be on good enough terms with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott and the three muggleborns seem to be quiet, watching everything and everyone with somewhat wide eyes. Harry assumes that the first of the introductory lessons was something of a shock to them.

Professor Quirrell is… strange. He stutters and his turban is big and kind of out of place on him and his classroom is dark and smelly. And Harry‘s common room and dorm room is in a dungeon! He tries to pay attention to his speech about how dangerous this class is and how they need to be careful and what they‘re going to learn throughout the year, but it‘s hard with Gryffindors who are poking fun at the teacher and are noisy in general. And then Quirrell mentions that the two hours of defense they have on Tuesday is supposed to be reserved for exercise and Chris Potter and his best friend Ronald start outright arguing with the teacher. Parvati Pattil and Levander Brown don‘t help that with their giggling. Harry is annoyed and bored and he can see that the Gryffindors are probably going to run that class. Quirrell tries to take them outside the classroom to take them somewhere and it takes him almost fifteen minutes of pleading with Gryffinfors for them to do what he‘s asking them to do. It turns out the wait was worth it, because right next to the defense classroom on the first floor there‘s another door that leads to a room that‘s magically altered so it looks like a running track with grass inside the oval and set bars nearby that are probably made for pull ups. Harry‘s eyes spark, but it dies quickly enough when professor Quirrell says that the room is magically locked and the only ones who can open it are him, professor Moody, professor McGonagall, and professor Dumbledore. Well, that‘s not good. Sure, he can probably go running around the quidditch pitch now, but that won‘t be possible during the winter. Probably.

During lunch, Harry and Draco talk about going to explore the castle. They already finished re-reading the transfiguration chapters professor Longbottom told them to prepare for Wednesday and they‘ll go over them after curfew, writing down their questions. But now they have a free afternoon and Harry can‘t wait to go exploring, hopefully finding some of the secret passages.

Of course, that‘s when prefect Pyrites comes all the way down to them, sneering all the while. Her hair is still as perfect as Sunday evening and Harry needs to learn what charms girls do to keep their hair that way. It looks untouched and she‘s kept it like that for at least two nights now.

„Gaunt.“ Harry straightens some. He‘s not easily scared, but Audrey Pyrites has this air of an icy indifference around her that makes him wary. „Dumbledore wants to see you in his office. Now. Cherry muffins.“

And with that baffling message she leaves. Harry blinks after her a few times.

„Dumbledore‘s obsession with muggle sweets,“ Draco next to him sighs. „Has to be the password to get into his office. Come on, let‘s see what the senile old man wants.“

Draco, unlike Harry, wasn‘t spared seeing Dumbledore on different society gatherings. And while Harry‘s eyes hurt just looking at Dumbledore‘s colorful wardrobe, Draco is personally insulted for what that old man does to fashion.

„You do know you probably won‘t be allowed to come in with me?“ Harry says just as he pulls out his map. He didn‘t forget it this time and he doesn‘t really know where to look for Dumbledore‘s office.

„I‘ll wait for you in front of his office.“

There‘s a gargoyle guarding Dumbledore‘s office and it jumps away when Harry uses the password. Stone staircase appears, raising up. Harry steps on them and lets himself be transported all the way up to a door that presumably leads to the office. Harry knocks.

„Come in.“ The room is circular, relatively small, and cramped. Harry frowns when he sees all the little things Dumbledore has all around the room, mostly on small tables. Most of them are useless, from what Harry sees, just some little things to look impressive and sometimes make a noise. He does recognize different magics coming from three tables furthest away from him and that makes him frown. The whole room reeks of Dumbledore‘s magic, but those little things… their magic is not Dumbledore‘s. He doesn‘t know whose they are or really anything else about them, his own magic is not yet settled enough to be able to find anything from just feeling magic around himself. But it‘s still fishy.

„Oh, mister Gaunt!“ And once again, Dumbledore appears on a small balcony above Harry, looking at him from above, with his annoyingly twinkly eyes. „You‘re here quick. Good, that‘s good. Come in, my dear boy, let‘s have some tea.“

Harry goes to the table Dumbledore gestures for him and sits in one of the armchairs in front of it, but doesn‘t relax into it. He‘s very careful to not look at Dumbledore, keeping his head down and eyes on the floor. He sits straight and looks out from the corner of his eye at Dumbledore who just sat in the big chair behind his table.

„Lemon drops, Harry?“

„Thank you, headmaster, I don‘t like lemon drops.“

„Of course, my boy. Can I offer you something else for the tea? Treacle tart, perhaps?“

„Thank you, headmaster, but I just had lunch. You wanted to see me about something…?“

He makes himself sound unsure and look up, seemingly to look in Dumbledore’s eyes but in fact concentrating on the bridge of his nose. He‘s trained in occlumency, as any pureblood children are before attending Hogwarts. But he is still eleven. He has a rudimental set of walls around his mind, but they‘re relatively weak and definitely nothing to stop a skilled legillimence such as Dumbledore himself. He can‘t afford to look straight into his eyes and he‘ll have to be very careful about what he says, but he should be safe. Mostly because Dumbledore probably won‘t expect him to know any of this.

„Very well. I wanted to ask you about your father. You moved into England almost ten years ago, right?“

That‘s what this is about then.

Hogwarts automatically writes down all the magical children that are born on the islands of the United Kingdom. Ireland included, although from what Harry hears Ireland is technically a separate country from the UK in the muggle world, magical world doesn‘t see it the same way. For purebloods or even halfbloods that means that the moment they‘re born they‘re signed up. For muggleborns it‘s on the day of their first accidental magic.

Which would mean that if Harry was born in Sweden, his father would have to go to Dumbledore to ask him if Harry could join Hogwarts.

„My father did, yes. He did it for my mother. Only after arriving here after my birth my father discovered his heritage, claiming the title of the lord that belonged to him.“ Harry hesitates, making sure that he has the story straight. „Father met mother when she was on a holiday in Sweden. They fell in love and although mother didn‘t know at the time that father was a wizard, they… they fell in love. By the time they decided father would move to England to be with mother, mother was already pregnant. When he was actually able to move, I had already been born. He discovered his heritage shortly after that. It took some time to claim it and in the mean time, mother… she… I‘m sorry, professor.“ He looks to the floor. „It‘s not easy to talk about it.“

It‘s not that hard, either, but Harry isn‘t sure how much father wants Dumbledore to know yet. Few moths after father blood adopted Harry, they found a muggle woman who was dying and made her blood adopt him. Of course, she didn‘t know that‘s what she was doing, when she agreed to the deal – she would drink something and her family would be free of the debt she accumulated during her life. Making sure that if anyone went looking for Harry‘s mother, they would find only a dead muggle.

Of course, he found all that only after his eleventh birthday. The rest of his life he was told the story he was just feeding Dumbledore – that his poor muggle mother fell ill when he was little and died shortly after his second birthday. Harry is just glad that blood adoption by muggles is just a technicality. His features were not changed and his magic left untouched. And because blood adoption doesn‘t change your genetical make-up, he was left basically unchanged. But because they included his father in that adoption, it just added the muggle, and so made a believable story.

„I understand, my boy.“ Harry tenses, but doesn‘t comment on it. He doesn‘t like the familiar way the headmaster addresses him, but he doesn‘t yet want to antagonize him. Harry looks up and smiles lightly, reminding himself that they will get rid of Dumbledore. Eventually. „Your mother – you mentioned that she didn‘t know your father was a wizard. Was she…?“

Dumbledore cuts himself off, as if letting him fill in the rest for himself. Harry refuses to fall for that. He blinks at him, feigning innocence.

„Was she what, headmaster?“

Dumbledore‘s twinkle in his eyes dims some.

„Was she a muggle, Harry?“

„Yes, headmaster.“

„And your father moved to England from Sweden for her?“

„Yes, headmaster. We still go back, sometimes. Father likes to lie flowers on his parents‘ graves.“ Or rather, on graves of actual Slytherin descendants they found in Sweden. Surprisingly, the last of them died just fifty years ago, making this story entirely believable. They also found that some Slytherin descendant moved to Spain and some to Romania, but all of them died out just about a century or so after moving there.

Harry feels a slight prod against his mental walls, so he recalls all the times they visited that small cemetery in Sweden and the serenity he always feels there. Dumbledore relaxes into his chair.

„I‘m sorry for questioning you so, my dear boy. It‘s just that while all my staff has been to Slytherin castle many times to the annual Yule ball, I‘ve never had the opportunity.“

Well, there‘s a sentence in which there‘s a lot to unpack. First of – the teachers of Hogwarts are not Dumbledore‘s „staff“. They‘re Hogwarts‘. Hogwarts has such a unique magical signature that technically, magic recognizes it as an institution of its own. As it should – the elves are tied to that magic, not the headmaster, the wards take energy from that magic, the headmaster is no longer responsible for them. Dumbledore is also obviously not sorry. And Harry doesn‘t entirely trust Dumbledore‘s apparent acceptance of his explanations.

„I‘m sorry to hear that, headmaster.“ Harry is careful to sound appropriately regretful about it without seeming guilty. „If you want to, I can ask father to add you to the guest list.“ His father would never actually do that, but Harry can always ask. His father will know he doesn‘t mean it and he won‘t have to lie. It‘s a win-win situation, really. Dumbledore smiles at him.

„That would be very kind of you, Harry. Now, how do you like Hogwarts so far?“

Not nearly as much as he hoped. But that might be because he didn‘t have the time to explore the castle yet. The classes are boring.

„The castle is very impressive, headmaster. May I go now? My friends and I have plans to study in the library for our transfiguration lesson tomorrow. Professor Longbottom seems very stern.“

„That she is. I‘d hate to keep you from your studies, Harry. Just know that if you need anything, my door is always open for you.“

Yeah, sure. Harry would rather go bother prefect Pyrites than try his luck with Dumbledore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the questions asked of Ron and Christopher:  
> Azkaban was built in the 15th century, but started functioning as a prison in 1707  
> Wizengamot was estabilished in 1030  
> The British ministry of magic in 1636
> 
> None of that is official or Rowling-approved. I did look around for her dates, but those I did find didn't correspond with my story of the Hogwarts founders, so I kind of just... went and did whatever I wanted with the magical history. It will be discussed a little bit more in later chapters.


	5. They made him do it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the first week and the flying lesson. Harry is looking out to make alliances outside Slytherin house.

Wednesday starts with double transfiguration and that is as tough as professor Longbottom warned. It‘s the first class where Harry doesn‘t feel like this whole school is going to bore him to death. He still knows the material they go through, but it‘s at least interesting.

History, on the other hand, is nothing but fun. They have it with Hufflepuffs and all the Hufflepuffs seem excited to have a founder teach them about history. Slytherins can hide it better, but Harry still sees the excitement in them. He can‘t help it, even he is excited. He knows aunt Rowena, and this painting should be closer to aunt Rowena than the one in front of the Great Hall. Besides, he never met her husband or their three children. The husband isn‘t in the painting when they come in, but Rowena greets them with a kind sm ile , introducing herself and all three of her children – teenage Iris, who sits on a s ofa next to her mother‘s armchair and reads a book (she looks up to smile and wave at them when she‘s introduce d ), just slightly younger Percival (he‘s on the other side of the s ofa , playing with some kind of a toy, not really acknowledging them), and then finally small Helena, who plays at her mother‘s feet. Harry notices that Daphne is schoc k ed to see R owena  and Iris both have their black locks let down. It was originally a family picture meant for a friend, after all.

That class is fun. Rowena doesn‘t really get to history, but she explains magic in a way that only aunt Rowena can – with sparks in her eyes and voice so full of excitement that it pulls you i n the story she‘s telling, even if the story is just expl a nation of how every single living creature is connected in a way through magic.

Their second Latin class is also full of work already. Harry gets paired with Megan Jones, one of the three muggleborns in Hufflepuff that year. He notices that Draco and Pansy get the other two muggleborns and thinks about why that is. Is professor Baldwin testing their openness to muggleborns or is she just aware that they had probably the best tutors, so she hopes they‘ll be the best suited to help them? Harry sits next to Megan, but that class is spent mostly writing down notes on letters and pronunciation and few simple words they‘re going to start up with.

Wednesday night is also their first Astronomy class. Harry is a little excited, because it‘s the only night where they have an exception from the curfew rule – their class starts at ten PM at the door to the Astronomy tower. Farley waits for them at nine thirty at the door to the Slytherin common room to walk them to it.

„You‘re still not allowed to go all this way alone,“ she grumbles some. „It will be me and Nettle accompanying you most often. The way back will be taken care of by professor Sinistra, so don‘t try to take advantage of that. You won‘t like the consequences.“

The astronomy tower ends in a platform instead of the usual roof. It‘s still a tight fit with all of the houses there. Professor Sinistra is strict and Harry has no intention to try to cross her. Even that class is mostly boring, going through the plan for the school year, warning about what they are and are not supposed to do. But when that is over, professor Sinistra helps them figure out how to work with their telescopes. She smiles at the pupils who prove that they know what they‘re doing and shows how to work it to everyone else. Harry notices that Granger isn‘t happy that she needs to be taught something that so many of them already know. Harry also notices that Sue Li catches on quickly and then leans over to the Hufflepuffs to help them figure it out while Michael Corner takes much longer and doesn‘t really try that much. Megan Jones is quiet, but has it done surprisingly quickly and then turns around and does it to Justin Finch-Fletchley, who seems somewhat embarrassed that he can‘t get it right. Wayne Hopkins takes good ten minutes to understand it, but then he has it. By the time Harry notices Dean Thomas, the other Gryffindor muggleborn, he already has his telescope prepared, but by his giggling with Seamus Finnigan Harry isn‘t sure he did it himself. They spend the rest of the class mostly just learning how to follow instructions. Harry would much rather sleep.

Returning students back to their common rooms turns out to be more complicated than what Farley suggested. After all there is four houses and two of them are headed to two different towers, each on the other end of the castle. So Gryffindor‘s and Ravenclaw‘s prefects still need to meet the first years after their class to accompany them back to their common rooms. But Hufflepuffs and Slytherins are stuck with professor Sinistra. She‘s nice enough when she accompanies them. She apologizes to Slytherins, but they do stop first near the Hufflepuff common room – on the first dungeon floor, on the right side, pretty close to the staircase. That‘s at least where professor Sinister stops them and tells the Hufflepuffs that surely they know the rest of their way. They wait for few moments before professor Sinister sticks her head into the hall on the right that all the Hufflepuffs went to before and then smiles at them as she straightens. They go straight to the Slytherin entrance after that. Nettle is waiting for them there.

The rest of the week is more of the same. Double class of charms is fun, mostly because professor Evans tries to tie theory with practice, so every time she explains something in theory, she demonstrates in practice. Her demonstrations are all of charms complicated enough that Harry either can‘t do them or hasn‘t even heard about them, so he leaves that class even more excited about charms than he entered it. Defense theory is boring and soon enough Harry finds himself doodling instead of making notes about differences between jinxes, hexes, and curses. It‘s not like he doesn‘t know all that anyway. Latin is still mostly boring, but they do get their first verb to train inflection on in the pairs. That is at least a little interesting, because he gets to help miss Jones with her pronunciation.

Friday at least starts with class with Rowena‘s painting. This time, it‘s Rowena‘s husband, Chester, who explains that magical history is tightly tied to those of humans. No one really knows how first magical people came to wield magic. But the witches and wizards studying history are sure that for as long as people had fire, some people also had magic. And that where magic was growing, civilization was growing.

Honestly, it‘s all fascinating to Harry. He knows the old religion and the stories of Merlin and the founders. He doesn‘t really know stories of ancient magical people though, so listening to Chester Ravenclaw, who taught history at Hogwarts at the very beginning of the school, is fascinating. Sadly, Hufflepuffs have to hurry to their charms class while Slytherins have a free period. Harry and his friends would be more than happy to listen to Chester in that hour, especially since the classroom is free in that time slot, but Chester refuses to tell it twice and instead sends them to spend some time outside.

The practical of potions, on the other hand, is the most boring experience Harry remembers in long years. Slughorn goes from one working desk to another to show each of them the difference between slicing and dicing and watches them try it and explains why it‘s important. Harry understands the importance of hands-on learning (it was already said many times that that‘s the method he prefers), but it‘s just impractical to do that in a class of almost twenty pupils. There is only four working tables, but when each of the four students sitting at each table has to try it and have it explained individually, it takes the full two hours and sucks all the fun out of it.

The most exciting news that Friday is announcement waiting for them at the notice-board in their common room. It says that their flying class will take place the next afternoon on the school courtyard. Harry is a little disappointed that they won‘t get to see the quidditch pitch, but it‘s still the best news of the day.

It is a little annoying that they‘re going to share that lesson with Gryffindors, but to Harry it makes sense. Pupils have to take that lessons only long enough to prove that they‘re able to handle a broom and in case of an emergency use broom as a way to travel. It‘s pointless to take if you fly regularly and outright boring when you play quidditch as a pastime. And Slytherin is full of purebloods whose parents would teach them fly brooms for safety reasons years ago while Gryffindor is full of reckless children who probably learn to fly by the age of five out of pure stubbornness. Plus the combined number of their muggleborn year-mates is two, which is the smallest number of any combination of two houses in their year.

As Harry said – it makes sense. Most of their class is probably going to pass the test that very same class and the rest will be able to join the class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.

They don‘t hurry to that lesson exactly, but they do arrive with plenty time to spare. They still kind of travel in a pack, although there are some friendships forming – Daphne and Davis seem to be as close as ever and Harry, Draco, and Pansy accepted Zabini (now Blaise, ever since Draco beat him in chess three times in a row on Wednesday evening) like he always belonged, they just never knew it. The truce between Daphne and Harry is kept by Pansy, who still mostly studies and plays Exploding Snaps with the boys, but when her need for gossip comes she spends hours with Daphne and Davis. Nott and Millicent mostly keep to themselves, but Harry is determined to include them in almost everything. Slytherins stick together and friendships formed in the snake pit last forever and form the best families. Harry knows that very well and he wants that for himself and his friends. So yeah, maybe Nott still looks a little surprised every time they include him and Millicent suspicious every time they include her, but Harry is determined to keep including them until both of them accept they‘re part of the group. Even Draco, Pansy, and Blaise already got it and they all seem happy enough with that decision.

So they all arrive to the grounds fifteen minutes early and Madam Hooch happily makes them help put the brooms about five feet apart in two rows per eight brooms. Draco and Blaise grumble some, but Harry doesn‘t mind being helpful. Honestly, he‘s just glad to be out and moving. Even with tutoring he never sat around as much as he did this week.

They can hear the Gryffindors long before they actually arrive. Harry looks at his friends before hurrying to one of the brooms on the left hand of Madam Hooch. Draco stands by his right hand and Pansy by his left. The girls take their place next to Pansy, first Millicent, Daphne finishing the line. Blaise stands next to Draco and Nott next to Blaise. They stand straight, hands behind their back, looking to Madam Hooch, who smiles at them a little. The Gryffindors seem taken aback by that view when they finally make it there and Harry doesn‘t even attempt to control the small smirk on his face.

As the Gryffindors shuffle to their brooms, Harry recognizes some grumbling about the „bloody Slytherins“, mostly from the youngest Weasley and Potter. Draco next to him frowns hard, but Harry gently nudges him and shakes his head just a bit when Draco looks towards him.

„Good afternoon, class.“ Professor Hooch waits for the answer and frowns a little when it doesn‘t come as smoothly as she expected. „I‘m here to check your flying abilities. But if you‘ve never sit on a broom, don‘t worry, I‘m also here to teach you. Now, please, step up next to your broom, extend your hand above it, and clearly and decisively say „up“.“

They all do as they‘re told. The brooms react swiftly – at least for the Slytherins. Most of the Slytherins, really. Davis takes two tries and Blaise three tries to get it right. Millicent and Nott are even less successful. It takes Millicent about five times and Nott‘s broom reacts only when Harry gently nudges it with his magic and Nott looks surprised by the broom actually doing as it‘s supposed to do. Gryffindors are doing… well. They probably don‘t fly regularly. Chris Potter‘s broom takes three tries to get right, and it‘s something between three and ten tries for most of the Gryffindors. Harry doesn‘t understand that. Madam Hooch follows the regular method of flying lessons. And he knows that Potter and Weasley were boasting about how much flying they do since yesterday. Merlin knows it was unbearable during breakfast and Harry sits on the other end of the room from the Gryffindors!

Madam Hooch makes them get on the broom and show her proper posture. She adjusts Draco‘s hold of the broom that both their fathers were pestering him about for years (apparently, he‘s more likely to break his wrist like that, and while they can easily heal broken bones, wrist is more complicated because it‘s delicate and so can‘t be simply healed with Skele-gro) and Pansy‘s tendency to hunch over when she‘s on a broom. Neither Pansy nor Daphne look happy about being on a broom. They both sit in the very old fashioned position for witches – on side, with both their legs on one side, ankles and knees pressed together. But honestly, it‘s the only way to travel in a robe with any dignity. And while their robes are the open kind, so the boys can sit as comfortably on the broom as in the traditional quidditch robes (which, yes, are the open kind), the girls still have skirts underneath the robe. And so, the traditional witch‘s position on the broom. Madam Hooch is impressed, even though she does adjust a lot of little details for Davis and Millicent.

Gryffindors‘ are another thing entirely. Thomas follows Finnegan‘s instructions, but it‘s not really that good and Madam Hooch then spends some time with both of them. Granger seems reluctant to even sit on the broom and her face grows darker and darker the longer Madam Hooch spends explaining things to her. Longbottom, Patil, and Brown follow instruction without much fuss, but they all need adjustments from Madam Hooch. So do Weasley and Potter, but they actually put up a fight about it. Honestly. That‘s the second fight with a teacher Harry witnessed Potter getting into and it‘s still just the first week. How arrogant can one boy be?

Madam Hooch starts counting down for them to fly up. Before she actually blows the whistle it‘s surprisingly Neville Longbottom who shoots straight up to the skies. He screams all the way.

Harry watches as the broom starts moving erratically through the air. The Gryffindors are horrified and the girls are almost yelling. The Slytherins simply dismount their brooms. Longbottom smashes into the wall of the castle and with a thud lands on the ground. Draco flinches, but Harry is pretty sure he‘s had worse. That‘s confirmed when Longbottom gets up, admittedly with Madam Hooch‘s help, and the only thing that seems a little awkward angle-wise is his wrist. Well, not that easy to remedy, but definitely not life-threatening or even injury of the head.

„I‘m escorting mister Longbottom to the infirmary. You will all stay on the ground, waiting for me. If I find that any of you flew the broom, you‘re going to be expelled quicker than you can say quidditch.“

Harry sighs and turns to Draco, but Draco isn‘t looking at him. Instead, he looks around quickly, trying to not be seen, before he slowly makes his way to where Longbottom fell. Harry stands between Draco and the rest of the class. As far as he sees, no one else noticed Draco. The girls are talking about something to one side and Blaise, it seems, amuses himself by making fun of Potter and Wesley by few remarks about how they proclaim to be great on brooms, but so far Madam Hooch seems unimpressed. Harry watches with fascination as Weasley‘s face grows redder and redder.

Suddenly, Draco is right next to him, showing him Longbottom‘s remember-all. The boy got it in the post on Thursday afternoon, during their assigned study hall. Not exactly usual to get a post at that time of the day, but they all saw the soft smile professor Longbottom gave Neville when he turned towards her. It‘s hard to have family members teach other family members like that, Harry guesses. Besides, it‘s not like no one ever gets a post during study hall.

Harry frowns at the small ball, takes it from Draco, and mutely shakes his head as he puts it in the pocket of his robe. Draco sighs, but turns his attentionto Potter.

Potter, who is getting on his broom. Draco opens his mouth a little, delight on his face. Blaise, close to Potter, actually laughs out loud at that.

Potter gets about ten feet above them and from there smirks at them.

„What now, Zabini? Are you going to join me or are you going to chicken out?“

„I‘m good where I am, thanks.“

„Somewhat shaky flying, Potter.“ Of course Draco can‘t help himself now. He just has to mock at least one Gryffindor. He can‘t help it, really. He has a weird rapport with grandpa Rick that no one really understands, not even grandpa Sal. He says that Draco brings something childish out of Rick and… well, Draco might not be as bratty as he used to be anymore, but something about grandpa Rick seems to bring it back. Funny thing is, grandpa Sal says that the only one who ever made grandpa Rick react like that were his children. „Didn‘t you say you played a game with the Chudley Cannons?“

„Please, as if the Cannons fly better,“ Harry rolls his eyes. „With that flying, even though it‘s shaky, he was probably the best flier they had.“

Potter‘s face grows red and Harry‘s delighted, really. It‘s so easy to rile up Gryffindors! Draco and Pansy weren‘t that easy even when they were four.

„Why don‘t you come up here and show me, then?“

„Seriously, Potter.“ And now Pansy‘s joining in on the fun with her eye-roll and a sweet voice. „Not everyone has a famous name and friendship with the headmaster to keep us safe.“

„What are you saying?“ Weasley, coming to his friends‘ defense, of course. Pansy scrunches her nose at him.

„By Merlin, Weasley, it‘s going to be very long seven years if you can‘t see the obvious.“

„Christopher Potter!“ Harry very carefully masters his face so he doesn‘t grin at professor Longbottom. „What are you doing up in the air on your own and where is your teacher?“

„Madam Hooch had to take Neville Longbottom to the infirmary, professor.“ Pansy‘s sweet smile lacks the sharp edge when she turns to the professor. Professor Longbottom goes white in the face. „It was just an accident and Neville was conscious and able to walk mostly by himself.“

„It looked like a wrist injury, professor Longbottom,“ Harry quickly adds. He does not want to make an enemy of that witch and honestly, making an ally of her would be preferable. „I‘m sure heir Longbottom will be alright in no time at all.“

„Thank you, heiress Parkinson, mister Gaunt.“ Professor Longbottom doesn‘t exactly smile at them, but her face is by far friendlier before she turns her dark gaze to Potter. „Heir Potter, get down this instant.“

Potter doesn‘t argue with professor Longbottom. That suggests he has at least some brain cells left in that head of his.

„Now, before Madam Hooch left, what instruction did she leave? Miss Granger?“

„We should stay on the ground, wait for Madam Hooch.“

Harry is little surprised that there‘s not a trace of guilt on her face when she says so. She‘s just staring at professor Longbottom with a satisfied smile on her face. And sure, Gryffindors are not as protective of each other as Slytherins (honestly, after centuries of it being them against the rest of the school, they‘re probably even a little overprotective), but there still should be loyalty among pupils, shouldn‘t it?

„And what have you done, mister Potter?“

„But the Slytherins-“

„Are standing nowhere near a broom.“

„But professor – they made him do it.“

„Really, mister Weasley? Did they sit him on the broom and then somehow made him fly up with it?“ Both Weasley and Potter mumble something. „Well?“

„Not… not like that. Zabini said...“

„I don‘t care what mister Zabini said, heir Potter. He can say whatever he wants. The fact remains that you were the one who flew, which was in direct violence of the rules you were given by your teacher.“

„Mister Potter, really?“ That‘s madam Hooch, coming back from the infirmary. She‘s frowning hard at Potter. „It‘s always one pupil. Do you want me to take him to the headmaster, Augusta? Neville is in the infirmary. He will be fine, but injuries of wrists are nasty business.“

„No, I‘ll take him myself. You have a class to teach. Did you contact Neville’s parents?“

„Pomona was fire-calling Alice just as I was leaving.“

„Great. Heir Potter, with me, please. Have a nice class, the rest of you.“

Harry watches with delight as Potter puffs his chest, lets go of the broom, and goes to follow professor Longbottom. Someone is confident that the headmaster will make everything go away. Harry hopes that‘s not going to happen. Professor Longbottom seems determined to not let that happen.

The rest of the class goes on smoothly. Or as smoothly as it can go with Weasley still grumbling about how unfair it is for Potter to be in trouble. Madam Hooch takes one look at him and turns to the Slytherins. This time, she lets them go one after the other. They all pass. Nott is a bit shaky and she lets him fly for a longer time than any other Slytherin, but she does give him a pass.

„I hold a flying club on Saturday mornings,“ she adds when Nott finally lands, quickly getting rid of the broom. „I believe that in an emergency you‘d be able to fly away, but I‘d still feel better if you joined us next Saturday. No need to attend the beginner classes, but...“

Nott just somewhat stiffly nods, before turning around and quickly leaving. Harry blinks after him, surprised. Nott is always careful to be quiet, practically invisible. Him storming out like that without the teacher‘s say-so is out of character to say the least.

„It‘s all right. You can all go, Slytherins, you proved to be capable on the broom. Now. Mister Weasley. Are you ready to prove yourself?“

Harry would love to stay around and watch Weasley make an idiot of himself, but he is a little worried about Nott. So he quickly leaves, trying to follow Nott. But by the time he makes it to the gate to Hogwarts Nott is nowhere to be seen.

„He‘s surprisingly quick, isn‘t he?“

„He is a pureblood. I suspect he got some kind of training.“

Blaise stayed behind, probably to mock the Gryffindors in their tries to fly, and Pansy passes them with the girls, so it‘s just Harry and Draco. Suddenly, Harry remembers the remember-all in his pocket. He grins at Draco.

„Fancy a trip to the infirmary?“

„Not especially, but since when does that ever stop you?“

The infirmary is surprisingly empty.Or maybe not so surprisingly, considering that the school year just started, the beginning of the school year examinations are over, and the quidditch season hasn‘t started yet. In fact, the teams aren‘t even put together yet. The first one to hold a recruitment will be Gryffindor tomorrow.

Neville sits on a bed roughly in the middle of the room, a blonde woman in auror robes sitting right next to him, facing him and talking softly. Harry slows somewhat. He knows who Alice Longbottom is, obviously. She‘s a powerful witch and a force to be counted in the auror department. There are even rumors going around that she‘s the popular choice for the next head of the auror‘s department. Most people agree that it will be a toss between her and James Potter. And she actually has the work behind her to prove her worth.

Neville looks at them and his face turns in surprise. Alice Longbottom must see it, because she quickly turns around. Harry notices that she freezes before she makes herself smile at them.

„Can we help you?“ It‘s said perfectly politely, but there still is a tension to it. As it always is when she greets Harry and his father during their Yule ball. Longbottoms have been guests there for years now, considering that lord Frank Longbottom and Harry‘s father are nowadays coworkers in the Wizengamot. Most of the time.

„I‘m sorry, lady Longbottom. We just came to check that heir Longbottom is alright. And, well,“ he slips the remember-all from his pocket. „I think this fell off during the fall. I didn‘t want it to break, out in the open. Here, heir Longbottom.“

Longbottom looks surprised, but he takes the ball.

„I- thank you heir- m-mister Gaunt.“

Well, that hurts. But Harry is going to be the heir, Merlin damn him.

„How‘s your wrist, heir Longbottom?“ Draco is stiff when he talks, but Harry appreciates the willingness to offer the opportunity of friendship. Well, alliance first, but you can always change that into friendship. The other way around is… well, if not a disaster, then it at least hurts.

„It‘s good. I-I mean, it hurts, but it‘s… it‘s good.“

„Madam Pomfrey says he‘ll need to spend the rest of the weekend here. You know wrists – delicate things, they need the proper care. Is the flying lesson over?“

She‘s expecting the Gryffindors, then. And by the way Neville behind her shrinks Harry doesn‘t think they‘re coming. But he still puts on a smile.

„We Slytherins all passed, so Madam Hooch let us go early while she tests the Gryffindors. Was that your first time flying, heir Longbottom?“

Curiously, Longbottom grows red. His mother, on the other hand, chuckles and tucks Longbottom‘s curly hair behind his ear.

„Second time, actually. And after the disaster that was the first time I‘m very proud of you for getting on that broom again, Neville.“

Neville goes red in the cheeks and mutters something along the lines of „mum!“ and „embarrassing“. Harry can‘t really relate. His father is… well, even in private sometimes he‘s rather cold, let alone in public when there are people who see and hear them. Harry is not saying his father is distant, because he‘s not really and Harry knows that he‘s loved.

„It was actually pretty impressive.“ Not only Longbottom and his mother look at him right then, but Draco, too. „The broom got out of control quickly and was quite fast for someone who doesn‘t fly. And heir Longbottom only has a minor injury. That‘s fairly impressive.“

„Harry‘s right.“ Draco‘s voice is surprised and obviously not liking what Harry‘s saying. „For someone who doesn‘t fly, that was impressive. And if that was your second time on the broom and the first time didn‘t go well, it was even more so. Getting on the broom in itself was… courageous.“

Of course Draco says the defining treat of Gryffindor with a sneer worthy of their parents. Longbottom‘s mother beams proudly, but Longbottom himself frowns at Draco. Interesting.

„Your grandmother wanted to come, but she‘s dealing with… heir Potter.“ Honestly, he doesn‘t deserve the title, but he still holds it, so Harry is going to respect it. „I‘m sure she‘ll be in shortly.“

„Thank you, mister Gaunt.“

Longbottom‘s mother mutters something not really flattering, but Harry ignores it. He and Draco say their goodbyes and leave the infirmary much quicker than Harry expected. But he also didn‘t expect Longbottom‘s parent to be there. Why he didn‘t expect that he‘s not sure. The Longbottoms might not be a dark family, but they‘re still fairly traditional wizarding family who‘s been helping restore the glory of the wizarding world for years now. They would never leave their son be injured and alone for no reason.

That point is proved right when they run into lord Longbottom just few steps away from the infirmary. They both nod respectfully to him, but he doesn‘t even notice them. Draco frowns, but Harry just rolls his eyes.

„Because our parents would pay attention to some random pupils while we were in the infirmary. Come on, let‘s get back to the third floor and see if we can find any more secret passages.“

They already found five and they just made it into the third floor. Through the systematic searching, that is. One of the five passages lead them outside and another into a cave under Hogwarts, with a nice beach leading into a clean water that‘s probably part of the Black Lake. One of the passages takes you from right next to the Slytherin common room to right next to the Gryffindor common room in no more than twelve steps.

„So, why did you make us go through that terrible, painful experience?“

„Alliance, my dear Draco. Friendship, possibly.“

„With a Gryffindor?!“

„Get over yourself, Draco. You know grandpa Rick. Not all Gryffindors are the same. Are you coming or what?“

***

That class also ends Harry‘s small interest in his estranged twin.

It‘s not like he needs a brother or another friend, let alone Potter. But… well. Ever since he found out that he‘s the previously assumed dead twin to the boy-who-lived he couldn‘t help himself but to be curious about his used-to-be-twin. While he knows the Potters are not his family, not really, not anymore, he still feels… something. After all, family is everything.

But he‘s been watching Christopher Potter and he doesn‘t like what he sees. The boy is loud, using his fame and connections to the headmaster in a way that‘s almost him boasting about it, And he hates Slytherins. Harry is not very fond of Gryffindors, either, but he‘s not sneering at them just for being Gryffindors.

All in all, he doesn‘t like Christopher Potter and he‘s glad to ignore him from now on.


	6. Too chicken to show up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steadily befriending Theo, getting to know Longbottom, and the west wing on the third floor.

To Harry‘s annoyance, life slips into… well, a routine. Soon they have chapters to revise and essays to write and it‘s so very predictable and boring. Harry wishes he brought his old essays with him. The topics are not identical to the ones he wrote already, but they‘re close enough that if he combined them, he could be done with it in an hour, two tops. Now he spends hours writing down something he already knows, just because he has to double check his sources.

Luckily, the deadlines for their essays are far away enough that they still have time to just relax with friends and housemates.

He goes exploring the castle with Draco. Blaise joins them on Sunday and then occasionally during the week, too. They take care to be in their common room by six at the latest. It‘s good form to spend some time in your housemates‘ company. Plus, it‘s the best time to gather gossip.

Draco also uses that time to talk anyone willing into a game of chess. Harry agrees to play with him about once each evening. Chess is not his favourite game. Father says he doesn‘t have the patience for it. He‘s not really happy about that, but he never insisted Harry pay more attention to it than he wanted. Harry‘s good enough in it when he wants to, but Draco has always been strangely good in it. He learned all the tricks and strategies Harry finds too boring to comprehend, so he always wins. Harry doesn‘t mind. Pansy refuses to play with Draco, simply because she despises his condescending tone when he tries to teach her something. Blaise plays with him most of the evenings, but around five loses in one evening he also loses interest. Daphne doesn‘t really play chess and Millicent simply gets up and leaves the one time Draco asks her.

And so Draco starts asking older students. Pansy starts hanging around him much more during the evenings, because older students are a great source of gossip. According to her.

On Wednesday afternoon there‘s a quidditch tryout for the Slytherin team. Marcus makes sure to stop by at their end of the table during lunch to personally forbid them from competing.

„We know,“ frowns Draco at him. „It‘s forbidden for the first years to try for quidditch. Not to talk about the fact that we‘re not allowed even our own brooms, remember?“

Marcus gives him an unimpressed glare.

„Since when does that ever stop either of you?“

„Hey! It‘s always him dragging me into trouble.“

„Way to throw me off my broom, Draco.“

„Enough. You can come to the try outs as spectators, but you won‘t take part. That‘s my final word. If you try to get on a broom, I will report you to professor Vector.“

With that he turns around and leaves them to it.

„Five gold pieces Emory made him say that.“

„Ten it was your father.“

Harry sighs. Draco is probably right.

„Pass.“

„Since when are you two friends with the captain of our quidditch team?“

Pansy is the one who answers Blaise, with a snort.

„Since forever? Marcus is my second cousin. And he‘s basically Harry‘s cousin, too.“

Harry shrugs when Blaise looks at him. It‘s true, in the sense that his father built his family from friendships and trust.

„Are you coming with us to the try outs?“

The Slytherin tradition is that the only player who has their place on the team certain is the team captain. Every other player who played last year needs to enter the try outs if they still want to play. That way only the best players for their position get chosen. Plus, ideally, every position has at least one reserve if the actual players get hurt. Or if there‘s any other reason for them to be benched.

To Harry‘s surprise, there‘s not that many people trying for the team. From what he heard, almost fifty students made it on Sunday to the Gryffindors‘ try out – most of the house, really. Here there‘s not even twenty people down there. Including the team from last year. And in the stands there‘s only the small group consisting of Harry, Draco, Blaise, and Pansy. And to Harry‘s surprise, they‘re joined by Theresa Higgs from fifth year and Edmond Bole from seventh year, both Slytherin‘s prefects.

„Thinking about joining the team next year, Gaunt, Malfoy?“ Bole nods at them as he sits down next to Draco. Draco and Harry glance at each other, unsure of what to do with the attention from their elders. Finally, Draco just shrugs.

„Hopefully. Your siblings were on the team last year, right?“

„And they‘ll most likely be this year, too.“ There‘s nothing arrogant in the way Higgs says it. It‘s just a fact. „Flint is trying to find reserve for every position, but the seeker, beater, and keeper position are pretty much safe.“

„Who was the reserve for the seeker last year?“

Bole snorts and Higgs gives them a wicked smile.

„There wasn‘t one. No one other than Terence signed up for seeker position last year. And it looks like this year is the same.“ She‘s weirdly delighted when she says that. „It‘s going to be so fun to see Flint yell at him when he‘ll be trying to study for NEWTs.“

„Should be more fun than when Bradley Fledgling yelled at him during his OWLs. I swear Flint is almost as obsessed with the sport as the Wood guy.“

Harry doesn‘t know the Wood guy (he heard about him. From Marcus), but he also doesn‘t know anyone more obsessed with quidditch than Marcus.

The try outs are actually much shorter than Harry expected. It‘s all over in thirty minutes. Marcus talks to another three guys for few minutes before storming off to the changing rooms. Harry watches Terence Higgs hug the youngest boy out there. Terence is surprisingly tall for a seeker and the other boy is younger than the rest of the team.

„Well, looks like Pucey is still just a reserve. And still has a huge crush on my brother. Same old, then.“

„Four years is a lot.“

„Not like Pucey is doing anything about his crush. He‘s been following Ter since practically his first day here.“

Well, if that isn‘t another interesting piece of gossip. Pansy certainly seems delighted to have it.

***

By the time the second school week ends, Harry is just done with all the sitting around. So he gets up early on Saturday morning to go on the quidditch pitch to run. He puts on some old trousers and a shirt that he packed for exactly this opportunity and gets out of the bedroom. He bumps straight to someone standing in front of the door. He blinks up, surprised to see the whole quidditch team in the hallway. Marcus gives him an unimpressed look from across the hall.

„Were you going to go out, on the quidditch pitch, on your own?“

„It‘s not like I have a choice, considering that the running track here in the castle is locked and only four teachers have the key to it, none of whom I‘m willing to go to.“

Marcus sighs, before straightening up lightly.

„Gaunt‘s coming with us. Which means,“ he turns towards Harry, „that you‘re gonna work your ass off just as much as everyone else. Understood?“

Harry grins. That‘s exactly what he wants.

He‘s not surprised to find that Marcus is harsher than any trainers father ever paid to get them in shape. But he‘s not complaining. Mostly because he is in better shape than Warrington and definitely in better shape than Bletchley.

„Why do I need to run?“ whines Bletchley after about three rounds around the quidditch pitch. „I‘m a keeper! I don‘t need to move that much.“

„I don‘t care! If the game goes on for hours we all need to keep up. And that‘s only possible if we work on it. So move it, you lazy bastard!“

Harry plans to go back to the castle once the running is over, but Marcus simply grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him back.

„You‘re not leaving us just before the fun begins, are you?“

And so Harry understands why most people give Marcus his space when he walks around the castle. Marcus is brutal – he starts the exercises on bigger number than what Harry ever got to do and by the time they‘re done, everyone‘s moaning and groaning and cursing Marcus as they‘re slowly making their way to the castle.

„What I don‘t understand,“ starts Bole slowly, „is why Gaunt went through all of that when he doesn‘t have to.“ He‘s leaning into Derrick, the other beater on the team.

„It‘s good to keep in shape,“ grumbles Harry some, much less enthusiastic than usual. „Besides, if I want to fly next year, I should get used to it, shouldn‘t I?“

Pucey perks up when he hears it.

„What position?“

Harry grins a little awkwardly at him.

„Chaser.“

To his surprise, Pucey grins at him.

„Great! I mean, these guys are graduating in just few years and I‘d hate to start new team from zero.“

They‘re in the castle by then and by the sounds from the Great Hall breakfast is in full swing. The team heads straight there. Harry hesitates just for a moment. Marcus notices, turning around and rolling his eyes at him before gesturing for him to join them. With a sigh Harry follows them.

He plans to pass the place where the team sits down (a seat reserved for the older students, who are naturally higher on the social ladder. Most of the team is older students and Pucey‘s inclusion in the quidditch team, even though he‘s not yet on the line up, makes it possible for him), but Higgs simply tugs him down between himself and Bletchley, with Marcus sitting opposite of him.

„You train with us, you can sit with us. Pass the sausage someone, would you?“

Harry is just a bit surprised by the easy inclusion the team shows. Marcus absentmindedly pushes a cup of tea with honey his way while he talks with M ontague about some potions assignment they have. Surprisingly, it‘s Bole who turns to Harry with a question about how he‘s enjoying Hogwarts so far.

The peace doesn‘t last long.

„You went out with the quidditch team and didn‘t tell me?!“

„It was six in the morning and it is Saturday. And I didn‘t know I‘d run into the quidditch team. Would you like me to wake you up at six in the morning next Saturday?“

Draco stares at him for a moment, before simply sitting next to Harry, making Higgs scoot over. Higgs frowns at him.

„If it means training with the quidditch team? Yes. Good morning, Marcus.“

Marcus stares at Draco for a moment.

„Tuesday, five AM, the dorm hall. Be there and I‘ll overlook the fact that you‘re thinking way above your station, heir Malfoy.“

Draco‘s cheeks go pink, but he just raises his chin a little and makes himself a cup of tea. Harry smirks into his second cup.

***

So, that‘s how Harry and Draco start training with the quidditch team. Tuesday and Thursday‘s trainings are pretty much just running around the quidditch pitch and then just few standard exercises – sit-ups, squats, things like that. Saturday mornings are what the nightmares are made of. And Draco and Harry don‘t even come to the flying practices – on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday afternoons. Turns out, being a quidditch player on the Slytherin quidditch team is pretty much a full time job. No wonder so few people turned up for the try outs.

At first Harry is a little worried about Tuesdays, considering that first they run with Marcus and then they‘re supposed to have some exercise during their Defense double class before lunch. But professor Quirrell doesn‘t really run the class as much as he makes suggestions, so it‘s not really a problem. Between that and the exploration of the castle and the studying they do every afternoon in the library and the socialization they do during the evening in their common room, they‘re pretty busy.

During the third week of school, Draco finally manages to talk Nott into playing a game of chess with him. Nott obliterates Draco.

Draco is slack-jawed in his shock and insists on rematch. When Nott beats him another two times, he blames it on all the working out he did that day – it is Tuesday after all. He makes Nott promise him they‘ll have a rematch on Friday.

It becomes sort of a spectacle on Friday afternoon. Even prefect Farley is there to overlook everything.

Harry is not an expert, but soon enough it‘s clear to him that Nott is holding back. He frowns when he sees it, in the way Nott moves to go in one way, stops himself, and then uses entirely different piece to make a less dangerous move. With a sigh he sits on the arm of Nott‘s armchair. Nott flinches and moves an inch to give him space. Harry ignores that. For now.

„Don‘t hold back. The little shit has been winning over everyone around him since he was nine.“ With the exception of Nott‘s grandfather, but that duel doesn‘t happen often and Harry‘s not sure about Nott‘s relationship with his family. And Draco‘s own father, but Harry kind of thinks that‘s only because when playing with lord Malfoy, Draco gets unnecessary nervous. „It will be good for him to see that there are people more clever than he is.“

To Harry‘s surprise, Nott looks more unsure than before, not less.

„I… I‘m not… it‘s not...“

„You obliterated Draco on Tuesday. Don‘t hold back now just because he‘s a prat.“

Nott just looks at Harry for a long minute, before going back to the game. He ends it four moves later. Draco looks as shocked as he did Tuesday.

„Still gonna blame it on your tiredness, Malfoy?“

Draco splutters some more, but Blaise just laughs and gently puts his hands on Nott‘s shoulders, projecting his movements so that Nott knows it‘s coming. Nott still tenses.

„Good job, Nott. Merlin knows Malfoy needs someone to bring him down a bit. Wanna play a game with me? I‘m not even as good as Malfoy, but I‘d like to get better.“

And that‘s the story of how Nott finally accepts his place in their group. He stops excusing himself from group activities (like studying) and starts joining them for most of the day. He still hardly ever talks (surprisingly, it‘s Blaise who‘s able to make him talk), but he‘s there and that counts.

***

At the end of September they get to finally, finally brew something during their potion class. It‘s just a calming ointment for irritated skin. Simple, uncomplicated, made out of just five ingredients.

How Longbottom manages to blow that up, Harry doesn‘t know. Must be magic.

But still, Harry makes sure to linger after class. Professor Slughorn deemed cleaning after the whole class an acceptable punishment for blowing up a calming ointment.

„Are you alright, heir Longbottom?“ He‘s very aware that none of the Gryffindors even bothered to ask that. Longbottom looks up quickly, smiling softly at Harry.

„I-I‘m fine. Thanks, mister-mister Gaunt.“ Harry makes sure his smile doesn‘t slip into a grimace.

„Do you know what went wrong? I mean, it is a pretty simple recipe and none of the ingredients should react by… well, fire.“

Longbottom sighs and shakes his head, looking away from Harry and to what he‘s doing.

„I don‘t know. I‘m pants at magic.“ Longbottom sighs, long suffering. „I always have been. I haven‘t shown any accidental magic until I was seven and that was only because my great-uncle dropped me from a window. My parents were angry, I haven‘t seen him since, but… it at least proved that I am magical.“

„I‘m sure your parents wouldn‘t mind either way.“ Longbottom smiles a little, but doesn‘t even look at Harry. „You know, we have a study group. We meet every day at three in the library for an hour or two. If you stop by, we can help you.“

Now Longbottom finally looks at him. His face clearly shows surprise.

„You… you would do that?“

Harry is careful to smile and not smirk at him. Longbottom is… delicate. He wouldn‘t react well to Harry‘s smirk. No sense to disturb him, especially since this time the smirk wouldn‘t even be malicious.

„Of course. You‘re good in herbology, right? Our friend, Vince Crabbe, is really interested in herbology. He comes to the group sometimes, too, maybe you‘ll find a friend in him.“

Longbottom‘s eyes shine with interest, even though he looks shyly down. Harry allows himself a small smirk.

„Well, I‘ll see you next week. Have a nice weekend, heir Longbottom.“

In the hall in front of the potions laboratory there‘s not only Harry‘s friends waiting for him, but the Gryffindors, too. There‘s obviously some trouble going on, judging by the way Nott is trying to blend into the background, Draco is in Potter‘s face with Blaise and Pansy flanking him on each side. Weasley is right behind Potter, to his right side. In a word, the scene doesn‘t look good.

Harry comes just in time to catch Draco‘s: „Wizarding duel. Trophy room. Midnight. Bring your second.“

„What‘s going on here?“ Harry‘s voice is icy and quiet, yet it carries through the hall. He learned from the best, after all. Draco steps back and smiles at him.

„Nothing at all. Good chat with Longbottom?“

Harry just smirk, before he turns around and heads out of the dungeon. His friends follow him without a word. As soon as he‘s sure that the Gryffindors don‘t follow them and they‘re far enough, he speaks up.

„Wizarding duel, Draco? At midnight? Are you actually planning to risk losing points just because of some stupid Gryffindors, one of which is already in enough trouble as it is?“

Turns out, not even fame and friendship with headmaster Dumbledore saved Potter from the wrath of professor Longbottom. He lost fifty points to Gryffindor (which meant that they were starting from zero once again) and has a standing detention with professor Longbottom every Wednesday night until Samhain.

Draco snorts.

„Who ever said anything about me participating? Wizarding duel is forbidden outside the duelling club for the oldest students, don‘t you know that?“

Harry grins in delight. Isn‘t it great, having smart friends?

***

Professor Vector is a semi-regular figure in the common room. She‘s not there every evening, but she is always there at least twice a week. Three times, if she can manage it. And because she hasn‘t been there the whole week, it‘s easy to guess that she‘s going to come that Friday.

Harry approaches her carefully. She‘s usually friendly enough, but keeps to the background, chats with those who aren‘t in the middle of everything. She checked on the first years at the end of the first week, but otherwise leaves them to their own things.

„Professor Vector? I‘m sorry to disturb you, but I think you should know about this.“

„Yes, mister Gaunt? What is it?“

She‘s not exactly gentle, but it is Friday night and she let her usually tight up-do down a little bit. She doesn‘t have her hair let down completely, not the way some of the girls in the common room have it. Harry was a little surprised to see it that first Friday, but soon he realized that it‘s a comfort thing. It can‘t be comfortable to have the hair done up the whole week, even with all the charms keeping it together. So by Friday evening the girls, especially the older ones that have a proper exams to worry about, are sick of it. They usually do a simple hairdo for when they need to go out during the weekends (like for food), but it‘s never as proper as during the weekdays. Harry also noticed that Sunday afternoon all the girls seem to disappear, coming back with new, perfect hairstyles, ready for another week.

„I overheard some Gryffindors talking about going into the trophy room after curfew. I believe heir Potter and mister Weasley were involved.“ He hesitates. „They might have been just joking, but...“

Professor Vector frowns, but nods.

„Thank you nonetheless, mister Gaunt. I hope you‘re finding your classes as interesting as possible.“

„It‘s not as bad as I feared at first,“ Harry smiles at her charmingly. Professor Vector smirks right back.

„I hope mister Flint and his intense regime helps in that regard.“

It does, actually. Harry just smiles at her and makes his way back to his group of friends.

To their disappointment there‘s no points missing from the Gryffindors‘ sandglass when they make it to breakfast the next morning. Harry just sighs and goes back to his breakfast.

Potter and Weasley are walking into the Hall just as Harry and Draco are leaving it. Of course, Potter walks straight to Draco and pushes him.

„Too chicken to show up, Malfoy?“

Draco blinks a few times, seemingly confused.

„Excuse me, Potter? Were we supposed to meet somewhere?“

Potter‘s face grows red and Harry is happy to step back to let Draco handle it. It‘s fun to be just an observer for once.

„You slimy little snake, it was your idea!“

„I‘m sorry, Weasley, but I just have no idea what you‘re talking about.“

„The wizarding duel you proposed!“

„Wizarding – you do realize that wizarding duel is strictly forbidden in Hogwarts unless it‘s part of the duelling classes professors Flittwick and Snape provide for upper years? I would never – especially not without a teacher!“

Draco plays indigent so well that even Harry would almost, almost believe him. And it definitely helps with professor Evans, who‘s on her way to the Great Hall when she notices the commotion.

„What is going on here?“

„I‘m not sure, professor. Heir Potter and mister Weasley just came and started accusing me of… I‘m not sure. Proposing a wizarding duel, I think? I mean, obviously, that‘s forbidden and I would never do something like that.“

Professor Evans watches Draco for a long time with clever, green eyes that in that moment remind Harry of his own. He‘s just glad that they‘re different enough that no one else should make that connection. Finally, she nods.

„I believe you, heir Malfoy. Now, Chris, Ron, unless you have some proof, I will ask you to continue on into the hall. Heir Malfoy, mister Gaunt… please, go shower.“

But she says it with a small smile, so Harry just smiles back and goes do as he‘s told. She is right. Marcus‘ morning workouts are always something, but he seems to enjoy Saturday ones with a special sense of masochism.

***

Harry thinks that‘s it for the midnight-duel-but-not-really drama, but then on Tuesday Longbottom actually joins them for their study group. Draco is falling asleep just a bit, because it is just after lunch and Harry is usually pushing them to take the Defense training more seriously and Marcus pushes them pretty hard every training, so yeah, Draco is falling asleep.

„What‘s wrong with him?“ Longbottom whispers loudly to Harry. Harry rolls his eyes and throws his quill at Draco. Draco flinches and frowns at Harry.

„Finish the essay for professor Longbottom, then you can nap.“

„You‘re worse than father.“

„Nothing, he‘s just a little crybaby.“

„Am not!“

„He thinks that just because he‘s training with the quidditch team he deserves special treatment.“

Draco mutters something that‘s probably rude and/or swearing by the way Pansy absentmindedly hits him while explaining some charms theory to Millicent.

„Don‘t mind him, he‘s just a little grumpy because he hates early mornings and if he doesn‘t get enough hours of sleep he turns into a grumpy old man. And I told him to go to bed early yesterday, but he was in some heated debate with Blaise about fashion, I think, and didn‘t listen. Anyway – have you found out why the ointment blew up in your face?“

„No,“ Longbottom sighs. „That‘s partly why I‘m here. Does anyone of you have any idea?“

„You did the same ointment we did last week, right?“ asks Vince. „I was thinking – it‘s supposed to cool down your skin and there‘s this one flower we use in it, I forgot its name. But do you know how when something is so cold it burns and vice versa? Well, turns out that‘s exactly what that flower does. Just enough, it cools down your skin. Too much and it blows up.“

„Oh,“ Longbottom frowns at Vince, but then he sits down next to him. „Where did you find that? It‘s not in any of our schoolbooks, is it?“

Harry just smirks when he sees the two of them talk animately. He gives it a few weeks, a month at maximum. Longbottom might not be the strongest wizard or the cleverest man, but he should prove to be a powerful ally.

It‘s about forty minutes later when Longbottom finally lets slip the important piece of information.

„A three headed dog?!“

Of course it‘s Pansy who brings it out properly. She has a nose for gossip.

Longbottom flinches and Harry is glad to see Vince leaning into him, calming him down. Harry is really happy that Vince made it into Hufflepuff.

„Y-yeah. Chris-Chris and Ron saw it. And Hermione. The night you… the night they claim you were supposed to meet them for a duel? Apparently there was some teacher already there, waiting for them, so they ran for it, but the staircase started changing when they were in the middle of it and… well. They found themselves on the forbidden corridor and they needed to hide, so Hermione opened the locked door and there it was, a three-headed dog.“

„Granger?“ Malfoy scrunches his nose. „What was she doing?“

„From what she says, she tried to stop them, but then found herself locked outside of the common room. The Fat lady went to visit her friend, so she wasn‘t there to let her in.“

Harry just looks at Longbottom, appalled. Their portrait just… left its post? Sure, it was long after curfew, but the prefects were still out there and this means that they didn‘t have a way to get in, either. And by his friends‘ face everyone is as shocked as him. Pansy shakes it off first.

„What in all hell is a Cerberus doing at Hogwarts? It‘s classified as one of the most dangerous creatures there is!“

„They are supposed to be the best protectors, though.“

„Not the best,“ Harry grumbles some. Draco rolls his eyes.

„Unless you speak Parseltongue, it is the best protector. Basilisks are great, but deadly.“

„Because Cerberuses aren‘t?“

The conversation breaks into the usual bickering, but Harry isn‘t paying attention.

He didn‘t exactly forget about the forbidden corridor. They did bump into it on their search of the castle and decided to leave it for later. But now he‘s interested. It means it has to guard something, right?

„Stop thinking,“ Draco hisses at him, as they‘re packing their things. Vince and Longbottom are already on their way out of the library, talking excitedly about some plant they read about in one of the plant magazines over the summer. „I know that face. That face always leads me to trouble.“

„Leads us to trouble,“ grumbles Pansy. „But don‘t you find it weird that there‘s a Cerberus at Hogwarts? Isn‘t it something your parents should know about?“

„Yes!“

„But!“ Harry quickly jumps in. „If we tell them, they will deal with it and we won‘t have a chance to get to know what it‘s guarding.“

Draco and Pansy exchange a look while Blaise just stares at him.

„You want to keep a beast in school full of children just because you want to find out what it‘s guarding?“

„Welcome to madness,“ bites out Pansy, drily. „Your host, one mental princeling raised with both Salazar Slytherin and Godrick Gryffindor corrupting him.“

„They do not-“

„They do. Everyone knows that. Your father says it all the time and they don‘t even deny it anymore.“

Harry would like to protest, but… well, they‘re not wrong.

„Does that mean you‘re staying behind while I go exploring?“

„No chance!“

„Your father might actually kill us if we let anything happen to you.“

***

First, they need to do some research.

They covered Cerberuses in their overview of magical beasts during their tutoring before Hogwarts, but it was just few lines about each beast, nothing really helpful.

„Why can‘t they have one easy way to defeat them?“ grumbles Blaise after two hours of going through information about Cerberuses. „Like, sing them a lullaby and they fall asleep.“

„They wouldn‘t be a very effective guard dogs if they all had one weakness, would they?“ Theo replies absentmindedly, going through a huge book on beasts. He‘s more relaxed around them nowadays then he‘s been throughout the month. Partly, it‘s the library, Harry thinks. Theo is always more relaxed in the library. He still keeps to himself, careful not to touch anyone on accident. But at least he‘s not so tense. And Harry is starting to enjoy his somewhat biting comments, just as this one. Blaise frowns at him before rolling his eyes.

„Alright, mister wise guy. What do you propose we do?“

Theo looks up at him with calm, thoughtful eyes.

„Hard to tell without knowing what conditions it lives in. I mean – obviously the Cerberuses are supposed to run free on vast estates. That‘s what they were always used to. Locking him up in the castle is just cruel.“

„Perhaps they chose one of the bigger rooms?“ Pansy shrugs. „Look at the Great Hall. That should be big enough even for a Cerberus.“

„I doubt it. Rooms as big as that one are on the ground floor and bellow, not above. Just look at Slytherin castle – all the ball rooms and banquet halls are on the ground floor. The first floor is made of smaller rooms, for family, friends, and guests to stay at over night. And it was built by two of the four founders who made this castle, too.“

Pansy frowns at Draco, but she knows he‘s right. She sighs.

„Anyway. Any ideas that might be actually helpful?“

„As I said, it‘s hard to say without actually seeing the place first. But the basics should be safe – give him food, water, clean the place he‘s staying in.“

„We should practice our cleaning spells, then.“ Harry smiles at Theo in thanks. Theo looks down and fidgets some. „Water shouldn‘t be a problem, we all know that spell. But what do Cerberuses eat?“

„Raw meat,“ Blaise answers with disgust in his voice. „We can ask Gorrey for it…?

„No,“ Harry shakes his head. „He would ask what it‘s for because asking for a raw meat is strange. It doesn‘t matter if we answer or not, he‘d go inform professor Vector about it and we can‘t have that. But asking house elves is not a bad idea. Students are allowed to call for their personal elves, right?“

„We can‘t call Dobby.“ Draco sounds actually disappointed. „He‘s terrified of father and I‘m sure father has him reporting everything back to him.“

„Same with Conry. Mother monitors everything I do, I‘ve known she has Conry giving her information since I asked for a second slice of my birthday cake when I was ten.“

There‘s a dark look on Pansy‘s face and Harry moves just a little away from her, same as the rest of the boys around the table.

„Even house elves can‘t just apparate from Italy,“ adds Blaise carefully. „I mean, I could call one, but it would be too tired to be of any use to us.“

„We can just call Woopy,“ Harry finally says. Father trusts him, so he doesn‘t monitor everything he does and he doesn‘t have Woopy, Harry‘s personal elf, giving him information. Sure, he usually questions her after Harry gets into trouble, but never without a reason. And he did make sure Harry knew he could call her whenever, even at Hogwarts. „She won‘t ask any questions and unless father asks, which he rarely does, she won‘t say anything to him.“

„You should get at least three big pieces. You can throw it to each head and with any luck, they won‘t take it as an appetizer and you as the main course.“

Draco flinches and Pansy freezes, but Harry just turns towards Theo.

„You‘re not coming with us?“

Theo looks at him like he went mad.

„To a closed space that contains a deadly Cerberus? No, thank you. Good luck, though. I‘d go after our study group tomorrow, before dinner. Careful about prefects monitoring it, especially on your way out. Make sure to come back in time for dinner and you can tell us after curfew. If we change our routine, it will be noticed in the common room.“

Theo is not wrong. The older pupils usually don‘t pay them any attention, but if they start changing their routine that might change quickly. Especially if they get into trouble.

Still, Harry grins at Theo. He‘s been getting more relaxed around them and Harry likes the person hiding behind his shy exterior. He‘s clever and quick and when he really relaxes, even sarcastic.

***

They do not make it even into the third floor the next day. They‘re caught by the Weasley prefect. Harry stands on Draco‘s foot as soon as he sees him and leaves Pansy to talk them out of trouble. She does so successfully. They are only first years and the staircase is so confusing after all.

The next few days they sacrifice a few hours each day to observe the prefects on guard at the entrance to the third floor. They‘re not always visible, but they‘re there. Twice more they need to use the first years excuse – both times the prefects were just behind the turn into the west wing of the third floor and they weren‘t able to see them from their usual point.

They spend almost two weeks monitoring the situation. There‘s no way they‘d risk getting caught by a Slytherin prefect – Harry would rather spend every afternoon with Dumbledore than face the wrath of either one of them, to be honest. The Weasley prefect and seventh year girl prefect of Gryffindor are taking themselves too seriously, so there‘s no way they‘re going through them.

Ravenclaws, they find out soon enough, are easily distracted. They‘re dangerous when they‘re bored on their patrol, but if they get interested in something, be it a book or any kind of project, you can easily sneak around them. Harry and his friends don‘t find it by trying it themselves, obviously. But they witness a bunch of Gryffindors sneaking around distracted Raveclaws. The Ravenclaws usually realize something is wrong only when the Cerberus starts barking. Only then the distracted Raveclaws jump to action.

The next week during breakfast they‘re quietly talking about trying their luck that afternoon if there‘s a distracted Ravenclaw on patrol, when Pansy takes a mug with her tea and quickly sets it back again.

„Don‘t drink the tea,“ she hisses at them. Draco frowns and takes his own tea, carefully lifting it up to his nose and sniffling it.

„What‘s wrong with it?“ he asks, but sets the cup back down again. Pansy shrugs, but waves her right ring finger at them. The one she will be wearing her heiress ring in two short years. The one she has a simple band on already.

„No idea, but there‘s something in it that shouldn‘t be there. Don‘t drink the tea,“ she adds to Blaise and Theo who just joined them. Theo‘s face falls. Harry sighs and calls for Gorrey. The elf appears behind Draco, out of the view of the rest of the houses.

„What can Gorrey do for master Gaunt?“

„Can you brew new tea and give it to Theo? There‘s something in the tea already on the table and Theo likes his tea.“

What‘s wrong with the tea becomes apparent just few minutes after that. There‘s a few people around the table whose voices go weird. It takes only few more minutes to figure out that someone put a potion that will change your voice to the voice of opposite gender. Gemma Farley suddenly talks with ridiculously deep voice and Miles Bletchley has high voice of a girl. The whole Slytherin quidditch team is teasing him about it, because he‘s the only one who drank the tea.

There‘s not many people affected, actually. Turns out that many people have similar ring to what Pansy wears – one that warns them if anything in their hands is poisoned. And even those who don‘t wear rings like that usually are friends with someone who does have a ring like that who warned them, like Pansy warned the boys and Millicent. Daphne has a ring of her own, as an heiress, and she warned Davis. The whole Slytherin table was targeted, but in the end only fifteen people were affected. Professor Vector asks Dumbledore to inspect the accident, but Dumbledore just smiles and says that no one was really harmed, so there‘s no reason to punish anyone.

„Of course he says that when it‘s us targeted,“ Harry hears the older years grumbling about it. „Because everyone knows that it was the Weasley twins and the Weasleys are close allies of Dumbledore. He would never allow for them to actually face punishment.“

He stores that knowledge away as he slips away from the common room. Blaise and Theo are seated in the corner with a chess set, but Pansy and Draco are right there with him. They make their way to their usual hiding place close to the west wing on the third floor. Pansy then slips away to scout and find out who‘s on patrol. When she comes back she‘s smiling wildly.

„Ravenclaw sixth year. And she‘s distracted with about three books, making furious notes all along. Let‘s do this.“

Draco frowns at her.

„You‘re as invested as the crazy one is now, aren‘t you?“

„Come on, Draco, this is exciting!“

Harry leaves them to their bickering, calling for Woopy. She appears with a soft pop, smiling at him widely.

„Young master Harry! Woopy is happy to see you. Is young master Harry doing good?“

„I‘m great, Woopy,“ he grins right back at her. „Do you think you can get us three big pieces of raw meat?“

„Of course, master Harry.“ The great thing about house elves is, they never ask questions. She just snaps her fingers and suddenly she‘s holding a big plate with three raw steaks.

„Great! Thank you, Woopy. Draco, Pansy, stop bickering. Take a steak, will you.“

They both make a face, but Pansy takes out napkins and they each take one piece.

„Thanks, Woopy. Everything at home is alright, right?“

„Young master Harry should write again. Master Tom worries.“

Harry winces. He writes home every Saturday. He already has a time slot made for that purpose. But father still writes at least three times a week to remind him that he wants to hear from him more often. Harry just doesn‘t have the time. There‘s so many things to see!

„Thank you, Woopy. I‘ll call if I need you again.“

Woopy bows and disappears. Harry turns to Pansy and Draco. Draco was complaining about being in danger, but now even he has a spark of excitement in his eyes. Harry grins at them.

„Shall we?“

They sneak around the room where the Raveclaw is doing whatever it is she‘s doing. Granted, she left the door open, but she‘s too distracted to notice them sneaking by. Soon they‘re at the door. Harry waves his wand at it, concentrating to cast the opening charm silently. The door opens easily and they quickly slip in before closing the door once again.

The room is tiny. The three of them are pressed to the door and there‘s hardly three steps between them and the giant dog. And the dog fills the rest of the room.

The room is filthy and it smells. Harry casts few cleaning spells without even thinking about it, Pansy muttering them along with him. But then it finally registers that there‘s three giant dog heads sniffling their scent and barring their teeth at them.

„Now!“

They throw the raw meat in the direction of the heads. Each head catches one and the dog gulps it down almost all at once. Not even three seconds later it‘s once again focused on them. Harry gulps.

„Well,“ starts Draco slowly, „that was quick.“

The heads move closer to them and they press themselves even closer to the door behind them. But the dog just sniffs at them and then moves back, still growling at them quietly, but not making a move to attack them.

„The floor,“ Pansy hisses and Harry listens. The dog stands on a trap door. Harry relaxes some and raises his wand. The dog growls more loudly.

„You can‘t live in a filth like that,“ Harry speaks softly, but clearly. „Let me and my friends clean here for you.“

He‘s not sure the dog actually understands him, but it stops growling, so Harry starts casting cleaning spells again. Pansy and Draco soon follow his suit. Once they clean every… excrement the dog left behind he notices two bowls in the corner. One is half full with something that looks like some kind of dog food, the other with water.

Even with the room cleaned there‘s still not enough room for the dog to turn around, let alone run around.

The dog watches them quietly. It doesn‘t attack them, but it‘s still firmly planted on the trap door. That‘s fine with Harry. For now.

„What now?“

„Let me try something.“

Harry makes a careful step closer to the dog. He doesn‘t even glance at the trap door, making sure the dog knows that his focus is on the dog, not the door. He can see a collar on the middle neck, possibly with a name on it. One more step and the dog bares his teeth once again, but it‘s enough.

„Fluffy?“

The dog stops growling and cocks his left head to the side. Harry makes a step back, between Draco and Pansy.

„Fluffy?“

The dog starts wiggling his tail as Draco repeats Harry‘s question. Harry nods.

„Apparently, someone saw a Cerberus and decided that Fluffy was the perfect name.“

Draco and Pansy both move their head to look at Harry, disbelief apparent in their faces.

„Yeah. I know. But look at the dog. Fluffy.“

The middle head sticks out its tongue, suddenly looking almost happy. Draco makes two steps closer and the relaxed dog turns back into a guard dog. Draco hurries back to the safety of the door.

„Well, it‘s not like we were expecting it to let us through on our first try. Tomorrow is Weasley‘s turn, but the day after that at five starts the turn of the seventh year Hufflepuff, we can try then again.“


	7. Harmless prank potion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Payback to Gryffindors and explanation of how Wizengamot and Ministry work.

„So, the Gryffindors deserve a payback for the potion in our tea, right?“

Theo looks up from his transfiguration theory book. He‘s still reading the one Harry saw him reading that first day. It is a big book and every time Harry glances into it he‘s hardly able to understand it, it‘s written in old English.

„Isn‘t it literally against Slytherin rules to start things?“

Harry just smirks.

„Except we wouldn‘t be starting anything, would we? And didn‘t Farley say that if someone else starts something first, we‘re free to finish it?“

His friends give him a nasty smile. Only Theo still seems unsure, nervous. He quickly looks back down to his book, but his eyes don‘t move. He‘s not reading.

„It has to be something of a similar effect. It can‘t stop them from going around on their day, answering to professors. No harm, and the effect has to lose its power by dinner, same as the Weasley twins potion.“

Harry is already by his suitcase before Draco finishes his list of requirements.

„Rabastan gave me a book full of mostly harmless prank potions. Father forbid me to actually use them as long as I‘m home, but most of them seem to be easy enough. Changing their hair colour to green?“

„A little bit too on the nose,“ scrunches Blaise his nose. „If Dumbledore refused to even investigate an attack on Slytherin, I don‘t want to see what he would do if it was apparent that Slytherins were the ones to attack his precious Gryffindors.“

„Potion making them sing instead of talk?“

„It can‘t stop them from answering the teachers and going around their day. The constant singing would probably irritate them too much.“

„Terrible reek out of their mouth every time they open it?“

„Same problem, would probably irritate all the teachers too much.“

„What about – no, this one actually needs an antidote.“ A shame. Harry would love to see all of Gryffindors with purple skin. „What about this one – it should cause bubbles leaving their mouth every time they talk. It shouldn‘t stop them from talking in any way, there would just be… bubbles.“

The three boys look at each other for a moment. Theo is still staring at his book, but he‘s the one to speak up.

„That sounds… innocent enough. Are you going to brew it here?“

Harry looks at Theo, who looks almost sick with anxiety, and then at Draco.

„Not today. But maybe spend more time than usual in the common room tomorrow.“ He glances at the notebook on his lap. „And maybe spend the weekend there?“

Theo smiles just a little bit, glancing at Harry quickly before going back to his book.

The potion is not complicated and they are in fact done on Saturday afternoon. And the only reason why it takes so long is because Draco and Harry are busy in the morning. Well, technically, they‘re busy only until breakfast, but they like to spend the rest of the morning in the bathroom. They‘re usually joined by the rest of the team shortly before lunch for about twenty minutes in the hot bath tube.

After that there‘s just the small matter of adding it to the Gryffindor‘s tea. Which is easily done through the kitchens. Except Harry and his friends have no idea where the kitchens are.

„Really.“ Theo is clearly unimpressed with them when they start talking about where the damn kitchen could be. „You came up with the brilliant idea and brew the potion without thinking about the fact that you don‘t have the key information?“

„Right, the one who stayed out of the whole thing can criticize it now that the problem is apparent.“

„Draco!“ Draco jumps a little at Harry‘s sharp voice, obviously surprised by it. Harry just glares at him.

Draco is not entirely wrong, but Theo is… delicate. Still. Even now he draws into himself, hunches his shoulders, and stops looking at them. Harry hates that. He likes him open with them, sarcastic and snarky on his good days. He hates to see Theo reverse so easily to the way he was when the school year started.

„We‘ll figure it out. Kitchens are supposed to be close to the Hufflepuff common room, right? And we know where that is, at least approximately. The door to the kitchen will be magical, so if we just… search the corridor, feeling out the magic of the castle, we should be able to find it.“

It takes them four hours to find the painting.

Pansy has the same reaction to them not thinking about finding the kitchen before brewing the potion as Theo. But Pansy can take Draco on any given day, so Harry lets them bicker as they go along searching the corridor.

„Are they always like that?“ asks Blaise in exasperation after full thirty minutes of their bickering.

„Yes. You get used to it,“ he adds with a small smile. „Have you talked to Theo? Is he going to be okay?“

Blaise shrugs, but doesn‘t look at Harry.

„He‘s a tough one. It might take him few days, but he‘ll be fine.“

Finally, after four hours, they find a painting that feels… different. There‘s a feel of few different magics on it, as if more people pressed their magic there. It‘s not a complicated painting. It doesn‘t even have people in it. It‘s just a bowl full of fruits. Harry frowns at it, concentrating.

„ _Open._ “

Curiously, the pear grows a face and sticks out its tongue at Harry.

„Seems like Parseltongue won‘t work this time.“

Harry glares at Draco while Blaise makes a step closer and runs his finger over the pear. The pear giggles. It honest to Merlin giggles. Blaise snorts and tickles the pear.

Suddenly, the pear changes into a door handle and there‘s a door in front of them. Blaise smirks and turns towards the rest of them in triumph. Draco rolls his eyes.

„Shall we check that it‘s actually the kitchen or are we leaving that to the literal last second tomorrow morning?“

It is the kitchen. The elves are weirdly excited to see them and force tea and sandwiches into them. They each take just enough so the elves are happy before quickly leaving once again.

The next morning they sneak in on their way to breakfast, soon enough that no Gryffindors probably sit on the table yet. For a moment they just stand there, watching the elves run around preparing everything. Then a small group of elves puts a big bucket full of tea in front of each table, obviously ready to pour each cup from it. Harry and Pansy distract the elves taking care of the Gryffindor table while Draco puts their potion in the bucket. Easy.

First Gryffindors start showing the effect of the potion not even twenty minutes later. Harry sits so he‘s facing the Gryffindor table just so he can notice first, but he doesn‘t point it out to his friends. If they noticed it first, they‘d immediately be suspects and that‘s the last thing they need.

A group of Hufflepuffs notices first and they start giggling. Gryffindors start panicking and it draws attention of more and more people. Finally, the Weasley prefect starts shouting at his twin brothers, which draws attention of most of the Slytherin table. Mostly because as Percy Weasley yells, bubbles leave his mouth along with his words. Harry and his accomplices exchange happy smiles and Harry catches even Theo smiling softly.

Of course, because it‘s the Gryffindors being targeted, Dumbledore doesn‘t just wave it away. And apparently Gryffindors are not clever enough to wear protective rings. Not even the heirs. Because there‘s only about five of them that are not affected.

„It seems like there was a deliberate attack against one of our four houses today, meant to stop them from functioning during their normal day,“ starts Dumbledore gravely during lunch. „I will launch an investigation into what happened and do not be mistaken. When I find the culprits, they will be punished.“

He glares at the Slytherin table when making that part of the speech. And honestly – could he be more obvious about his favoritism?

But at the same time, Harry gets nervous when he hears that. If Dumbledore finds out that they were in the kitchen that morning, it‘s the end for them. He doesn‘t think they deserve it – the Gryffindors did go about their day as usual and it didn‘t cause them any trouble with teachers and the effects of the potion wore off before dinner that day. They were careful to choose a harmless potion after all. But still. He didn‘t mean to get into trouble.

To their surprise, though, Dumbledore doesn‘t find out that they were in the kitchens that morning. The rumor mill finds out soon enough that the elves refused to answer Dumbledore’s questions, citing that their loyalty is to Hogwarts first, students second, and headmaster only after that. The only way they‘d be able to go against that was if students were harming other students and it seems that elves don‘t see pranks like that as harmful.

Dumbledore spends the rest of the week quietly fuming, glaring at Slytherins every time he gets the chance. Harry is a little afraid that professor Longbottom will have the same reaction, given her position as the head of Gryffindor house, but she seems to be of the opinion that teachers should stay out of harmless pranks. As long as they stay harmless, of course, but she doesn‘t seem to find their little prank to be out of that category. Harry is glad to see that. He likes professor Longbottom.

***

September quietly moves to October. Harry and his friends manage to visit Fluffy two more times. They try three more times, but they‘re stopped by the prefects. Or rather by the fact that they wouldn‘t be able to sneak around the prefects – they don‘t let themselves be caught anymore. One of the times they‘re successful Blaise goes with them. He‘s disgusted by the state of the room when they arrive and not that impressed by Fluffy himself. Draco tries to get close enough to the dog to pet him, but so far he‘s not successful.

On the first Friday of the month Harry, Pansy, and Draco mean to spend just enough time in the library to finish their herbology and potions essays before trying to sneak to visit Fluffy once again. Longbottom joins them for their study session and Harry makes sure to talk with him for at least five minutes. Longbottom is by now friendly with Vince, but Harry likes to keep an eye on them. Theo took over helping Greg with his essays and Harry is grateful for it. Greg has problems writing in general and forming his thoughts on the paper is really hard for him. Theo is patient with him and shows him few charms to help straighten out the essay after he‘s finished with it.

Harry is slowly getting ready to pack his things and gently nudge Draco and Pansy to do the same when there‘s a nervous cough next to them. Harry looks up in surprise, finding Justin Finch-Fletchey standing there, obviously nervous.

„Good afternoon, heiress Parkinson, heir Malfoy, heir Gaunt, heir Longbottom, um… mister Crabbe, mister Goyle… mister Nott… heir Zabini.“ He looks at each of them as he names them and sounds more and more unsure as he goes on. Draco and Harry exchange a look. „I‘m sorry to bother you, but… I…“ Then he sighs and lets his shoulders drop. „Look, I‘m sorry, I‘m still not sure how exactly to talk to any of you. But lady Shackelbolt said that if we have any questions about the wizarding culture we should talk to you and… I‘m sorry if I‘m overstepping, heiress Parkinson, but you‘re literally the only one of you I‘ve ever talked to before. Other than Crabbe and Goyle, but mister Goyle told me to go to you when I approached him.“

Pansy watches him with her intense eyes for a moment while Harry raises an amused eyebrow at Greg, but Greg just scowls at him. They all know that Greg is not really good with these official things. He knows enough to be able to handle himself, but he‘s not the best to explain it to others. Then Pansy finally nods.

„You did well enough. Do you know why Theo is not the heir?“

„His grandfather holds the lordship, right?“ Finch-Fletchley looks nervously towards Theo. Theo doesn‘t look at him, instead stubbornly continues to explain one thing or another to Greg, who isn‘t paying attention at all. „Which means that the heir title belongs to his father.“

„Great!“ Pansy smiles at him sweetly and Finch-Fletchley takes a small step back. Good. That means that he‘s clever enough to see that her sweet smile is not a good thing. „Now to the details – Zabinis don‘t hold lordship.“

„In Italy we have this small thing called democracy. You should try it sometime, it‘s kind of cool.“

Finch-Fletchley is as skeptical about Blaise‘s charming smile as he is about Pansy‘s sweet smile. Harry is more and more interested.

„And Gaunts definitely don‘t hold titles.“

„We‘re descendants of Slytherin, which is the title father holds,“ Harry adds, not wanting Pansy to explain his family history. „But the Slytherin lordship is special. Pretty much the same way the rest of the founders‘ lordships are special – it‘s not enough to be born into the family, you need to prove yourself. So I will hold heirship, but I will have to earn it and it won‘t be Gaunt heirship, but Slytherin one.“

Finch-Fletchley frowns, looking down.

„So you will hold one of the most important titles in magical Britain, but right now you… don‘t hold any title?“

„It‘s kind of why I don‘t hold any title right now,“ Harry shrugs. „The founders knew the kind of power their titles have. I mean, they helped establish Wizengamot. And they were afraid that their descendants would abuse that power. So they decided that if you want to wield that kind of power, you need to prove yourself able to handle it.“

Finch-Fletchley nods, obviously trying to sort this information into everything he learned in the last month. Pansy rolls her eyes and with a flick of her wand and a murmured charm a chair from nearby table makes its way between her and Harry.

„Come on, Finch-Fletchley. Sit down with us and lets talk. What do you want to know?“

„Well, I‘m obviously still just remembering the list of names we were given of Wizengamot lords, but that‘s not something you can help with. I‘m actually confused about the relationship between Wizengamot and the Ministry. There‘s six hundred years in between! Obviously Wizengamot worked for six centuries without the Ministry. I mean, even from muggle perspective the Ministry is kind of new. But Wizengamot passes laws and gives judgment? How does that make sense? I mean, apparently Wizengamot has all the power, but somehow Minister is supposed to be the most powerful wizard? I don‘t get that.“

Harry looks at his friends, a little taken aback. That‘s a lot of questions. Finch-Fletchley obviously did a lot of thinking about all that.

„Isn‘t the class supposed to explain all that?“ frowns Harry. Finch-Fletchley shrugs.

„Lady Shackelbolt gives us an overview about everything, but she doesn‘t really go into details. She answers lots of questions, to be honest, but she doesn‘t have time for all of them. I mean, Samhain is coming and soon after it will be Yule and apparently we know nothing about those holidays, either. It‘s just a lot to take in.“ Then he seems to cringe. „I‘m sorry, I know it‘s a lot of questions. But… well, obviously I can‘t ask anyone from Gryffindor, considering that all of them are with us in the class. And I tried asking Ernie about it, but he seemed as confused as I feel, and Greg… ugh, mister Goyle, he‘s…“

„Not good at explaining things, we know.“

Harry and Draco exchange a glance. Ernie Macmillan is a jerk and they‘re honestly glad that he‘s not the heir of the Macmillan seat on Wizengamot. His older brother is only a little better than Ernie, but he at least isn‘t in their age group, so they don‘t get to see him so often.

So Harry and Draco and Pansy start explaining, but they mostly bicker and argue about how it all was. They have to be really irritating, because at one point, Theo snaps at them to be quiet if they‘re not going to help. Then he turns to Finch-Fletchley and in calm voice sums up pretty much the whole history of the law and government of the BritishIslands. Greg uses that opportunity to quickly pack his things and disappear.

At the beginning, there was just a committee of wise magicians, who investigated any case of magic use that was reported to them, judging each case individually. It was not paid job and they didn‘t work on it full time, members joined on an invitation and stepped away if they felt like it. But as the magical population of Britain grew, it was becoming too much. The founders all were part of that committee at one point in their life before deciding to leave it – Rowena left long before she even thought about starting a school, Godrick left to start the school, Salazar left it after he and Godrick got back together and he wanted to go back to school full time, and Helga was actually part of it until the very end of the committee itself.

The committee was the one who came up with the idea of something more permanent. And because Helga was part of it at the time and they all knew the rest of the Hogwarts founders they asked them to come up with a system that would work. And that‘s how Wizengamot came to be. The founders got a special place in it, because they came out with the plan and figured out how to actually do it. Plus they decided that London will be the place they‘d all meet and even built the actual hall where the Wizengamot meets up to this day. The ministry was actually built on it. Literally, in the case of the physical buildings.

The five families with five votes each started the Wizengamot with the founders themselves. That‘s why even they have special standing in the Wizengamot. Because they‘ve been there since the very beginning. The concept for the Wizengamot was that it can grow, though, and the usual number of the families with three votes on Wizengamot has been thirteen ever since the thirteenth century. It‘s twelve right now, though. Theo tells Finch-Fletchley that the reason why isn‘t really relevant for him right then, and that it‘s better to focus on remembering the families who are on his list rather than the one who lost their vote recently.

The twenty one elected representatives were added only after the ministry was founded. It‘s also the reason why each representative has just one vote.

Wizengamot is important because it‘s been giving wizards their guidelines ever since the eleventh century and it‘s been passing judgment even longer. Nowadays ministry is technically the one who writes the laws, but it still needs the Wizengamot’s approval for anything they want to pass. The relevance of the ministry is in its experts – concrete departments are experts at whatever it is they focus on and it‘s also the ministry that holds records on every single wizard and witch on the islands. The international department is gaining power recently, with lord Slytherin pressing for Britain to get closer to the magical Europe. The minister is mostly just a representative, most important for their contact with muggles.

„I thought the Statute of Secrecy prevents wizards to reveal themselves to muggles.“

„In general, yes. But the most important people need to know, for cases of emergency. Our wars and muggle wars hardly ever coincide. And it‘s favorite strategy in wizarding wars to use muggle terrors for advantages. So the most important people need to know. The royal family knows, if I‘m not mistaken. And so does… someone important in your politics? The main minister?“

Theo looks honestly confused with muggle politics, but Finch-Fletchley just nods.

„Prime minister. That makes sense.“

„Honestly, you‘re taking it rather well,“ comments Pansy. „I‘m almost impressed.“

„Oh, I took a lot of notes,“ Finch-Fletchley moves a little to show her a piece of paper that he wrote on with a little strange looking pen. Harry and his friends obviously know paper and pen. But the scroll and quill is used for official business, so they are used to working with those, too. „I will go over it tomorrow and I‘ll see if I got all of it. Thank you so much, though, this suddenly makes much more sense.“ He hesitates some before looking straight at Theo and then at Pansy. „If I have more questions, can I come to you again? I feel like there‘s so much we need to learn.“

„There is. And no one expects you to know all of that at once.“

„You‘re trying and that‘s the important thing. As long as you‘re learning, no one‘s going to blame you.“

Finch-Fletchley gives them a surprisingly sharp look. Harry raises one eyebrow at him, amused.

„Out with it, Finch-Fletchley.“

„Our fifth year prefect is a muggleborn. She says that the Slytherins are cruel to her. I saw them bullying her.“

Harry and his friends exchange a lazy look. That sounds like Slytherin, he‘s not going to lie. But there‘s still a little… detail.

„Has anyone of those who bullied her been bothering you or any of the other first year muggleborns?“

Finch-Fletchley quickly opens his mouth, closes it again, and frowns hard. Then he glares at Harry.

„That doesn‘t make their bullying right.“

Pansy rolls her eyes, but Harry just puts his hand on her shoulder.

„Does she try to assimilate to our culture? Does she keep her hair neat and up? Does she wear robe even in her free time? Does she understand our holidays and respects that now she‘s in a culture that has an entirely different religion to what she grew up with? I know you think that even if she didn‘t do that, she‘s just a one person and what can one person change. But honestly, I don‘t have the time or the energy to explain what‘s wrong with that line of thinking or to explain the history of the last two hundred years and how muggleborns just like her ruined a lot of things in our culture that we‘re still trying to make right. That will take years for you to understand, because it‘s not something I can just argue out, you need to live it yourself.“ Harry pauses for a moment. „Those Slytherins you saw, as you say, bullying your prefect. Have they been causing trouble to any of the muggleborn first years? I‘m serious, if they were, you need to tell me.“

Finch-Fletchley glares at him.

„Why, you going to report them for it?“

„Yes.“

Harry grins when he sees Finch-Fletchley‘s surprised expression at the quick answer from the whole table.

„You‘re muggleborns and that means that you have a lot to learn. No matter what you do and how you act, you are given two months to prove you‘re trying. If you are, and you are, we‘ll leave you alone. Hell, we‘ll help you, as long as you‘re serious about learning. But act like the Granger girl?“ Harry smiles. It‘s not a nice small, he‘s aware, but the mudblood has been getting on his nerve. „Right now all that‘s stopping most of the Slytherin house from targeting her is the trial period that‘s still not over. If she doesn‘t straighten her act by the beginning of November, she‘s going to be in trouble.“

Finch-Fletchley looks torn. He understands, Harry knows that, he can see it in the way he doesn‘t protest right away. But Hufflepuffs are at their core kind. They don‘t like the idea of any kind of bullying. In theory. Not every Hufflepuff is as Hufflepuff as one would expect.

„It‘s not right to target one girl.“

„It‘s not right to come to a new world and demand it to behave the same way as your old one,“ points out Pansy. „And that‘s exactly what she‘s been doing. Talk to her and try changing her ways, if you‘re so worried about her. But don‘t expect us to coddle people just because they don‘t know better. Lady Shackelbolt is trying to teach you better and you are a shining example of it working. No one blames you or any other muggleborn for not knowing our ways, our culture. What we blame her for is her ignorance and her stubborn refusal to learn our ways.“

Finch-Fletchley glares some more, but Harry can see that he‘s thinking about everything he was told. Finally he gets bored of that and looks at Draco and Pansy and nods slightly. Together they pack and get up.

„We‘re here usually every day since three, for at least an hour. You‘re free to join us if you have more questions.“

Finch-Fletchley grimaces and quickly looks up at Harry.

„That‘s the time slot we have the Introductory class in, three times a week.“

Harry glances at his friends, but they‘re all looking at him. He shrugs, then.

„Come on Tuesday, then.“ Longbottom joins them on Tuesday usually. „If you want to meet more often, we can set a time then.“

He turns around and leaves right then. He makes sure to look back only at the very last moment to see Longbottom, Finch-Fletchley, and Vincetalking softly while Theo is focused on his book and Blaise watches both Finch-Fletchley and Longbottom with intensity. He‘ll see what they think about Finch-Fletchley in the evening. Right now it‘s time to visit Fluffy.

They don‘t really have time for a long visit, but Harry wants to visit as often as possible. He can‘t wait to find out what the Cerberus guards. What‘s so important Dumbledore wants stored at Hogwarts, but doesn‘t think its usual guard is enough?


	8. Are we seriously adopting him?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures in (almost) adopting a muggleborn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to warn you that I do use the word mudblood. I'm not sure if it showed in previous chapters, but it is evident here.  
> I want it understood that while it's still viewed as a serious insult from society in large, my Slytherins don't use it carelessly. They are aware that it's an insult, but at the same time, for them it's a good way to distinct between muggleborns and mudbloods.  
> Muggleborns are simply witches and wizards who happened to be born to muggles. They deserve respect and time to learn, it's understandable that they don't understand everything about the wizarding culture and as long as they're willing to learn, they're deserving of as much respect as any other wizard or witch.  
> Mudbloods are the kind of wizard or witch who come to the wizarding world and expect it to be the same as the muggle world. They refuse to acclimate to anything and instead demand the world around them to change according to their wishes.  
> Yes, the world itself is an insult. They are somewhat aware of that. But in the Slytherin circles it's just a good way to distinguish between the two and honestly, refusing to at least try to understand their culture is insult worthy, at least in the Slytherin's eyes.  
> That said, you've been warned. Enjoy!

Finch-Fletchley comes back on Tuesday with more questions about various topics. Harry is happy to let Theo handle it, but then he needs to help Greg with his charms essay that‘s due the next day. He‘s not as patient as Theo is. He takes after his father in it, he thinks – neither of them really have patience to explain things that seem obvious to them. But Draco is distracted by Finch-Fletchley and Theo‘s discussion about economy and so he has to deal with Greg.

Their discussion soon turns into a fight.

„I might not understand magic, but I understand economy. And this just makes no sense! Gold and silver do not have a set value, not even in relation to one another! Seventeen sickles to one galleon just doesn‘t make any sense!“

„Maybe for your muggleborn brain it doesn‘t, but the coins aren‘t just gold, you know? They‘re magic, too.“

Finch-Fletchley snorts at that.

„Coin pressing is not a secret of wizards, you know? Muggles have had the knowledge of it for centuries.“

And so it goes. It‘s not exactly Finch-Fletchley‘s fault that he keeps fighting with Draco. Draco isn‘t explaining it right.

The thing that gives their currency value is not the gold or the silver or the bronze. Not entirely, at least. It‘s the magical process that makes it into the coins. Process that‘s a close kept secret by the Gringotts‘ goblins. You can own tonnes of gold in bricks, but as long as it‘s just that, you‘re not going to be nearly as rich as you will become if you hire the goblins to make it into the galleons. Sure, the goblins will charge fee, but even with it you‘re going to be wealthier with galleons than with pure gold. Because of course wizarding currency doesn‘t rely on the metal alone. That would be foolish and naive.

And there‘s different levels of magic that goes into making the metals into the coins. The galleons are the most complicated ones with the most magic going into them. Legend says that a skilled wizard can read many things from goblin-made galleons.

Okay, so it‘s not legend but grandpa Sal, whose only daughter was an apprentice at Gringotts and could read metals as well as coins so well that she could tell you where it comes from and about every single owner of it. Father says that that art has been lost to the ages.

Either way, Draco storms away from their little study group and Finch-Fletchley spends the next few days looking over his shoulder, as if expecting them to hex him from behind. Harry is amused by that at first, but then he realizes that the rest of the Hufflepuffs (with the exception of Vince and Greg) follow Finch-Fletchley‘s suit and become as suspicious of them as Finch-Fletchley himself.

So after their Friday‘s history lesson, he stops Finch-Fletchley from leaving.

„You still want to know why our economy has been working out for literal centuries?“

Finch-Fletchley flinches when he speaks up, but he straightens and looks Harry right in his eyes. He‘s still trembling, Harry notices.

„Will you hex me if I say no?“

Harry raises his eyebrows, unimpressed.

„You‘re still safe, Finch-Fletchley. For another two weeks at least.“ He‘s not going to lie, he‘s enjoying the way Finch-Fletchley flinches away from him. He lets his nasty smile show. „No, I‘m not going to hex you. I might judge you, though. From free to four, in the library.“ He steps closer to him, lowering his voice. „You have a unique opportunity to make allies in three of the twelve Wizengamot families and a son of lord Slytherin. If you‘re worth your wand, and you seem to be, you‘ll take that opportunity. It might not present itself again.“

He turns around and leaves, joined by his friends who were waiting for him few steps away.

„Are we seriously adopting him?“ asks Pansy with a slight sneer on her face, walking by Harry‘s left arm. Harry shrugs.

„Not yet. But he might make an interesting ally, don‘t you think?“

„Not really, no.“ That‘s Draco and while his expression doesn‘t betray it, his voice lets through the annoyance he feels. Harry smiles at him.

„He knew the rates for both gold and silver and the way it moved in the last year. Either he knew it out of his head, which I doubt, or he came prepared, which I admire.“

„He does seem to be set in his muggle ways,“ is Blaise‘ careful addition to the debate.

„He doesn‘t know anything different. He‘s known about our world for less than a year, has been in it for just over a month. Changing the way of thinking can‘t be easy. We take magic for granted so we know it‘s everpresent, in everything we do. Finch-Fletchley is not used to that way of thinking.“ Then he stops and turns around to face Theo. „What do you think, Theo? You were the one to explain the ministry and Wizengamot to him last week. What do you think about him?“

Theo doesn‘t look at him for the longest time, biting his lip and fidgeting with his bag. Then finally he seems to come to a decision and looks up, straight at Harry.

„He didn‘t judge when I explained the political side to him. I don‘t know why he reacted that way to our economy. He always makes sure to greet us according to our traditions and his second try was much better than the first. He‘s still in the trial period yet he made an effort to reach out to someone who, for him, is an expert on what he‘s trying to learn. And he reached out more than once. I‘d give him a chance if nothing else.“

He seems unsure of his judgment, though. As if he‘s expecting them to shut him down, dismiss him and go against his judgment.

Harry nods, turning to the rest of his friends.

„Anything else you want to add?“

Pansy and Draco exchange a look, before shrugging.

„If we have to adopt a muggleborn, then Finch-Fletchley is not so bad.“

***

For a while there, Harry thinks that Finch-Fletchley won‘t show up after all.

„We could still go try the third floor,“ murmurs Pansy to him quietly as she goes over her transfiguration essay one last time, making sure there‘s no grammatical error that would needlessly worsen her grade. „Pyrites isn‘t due to take over for another ninety minutes.“

Harry casts Tempus and sighs.

„I promised we‘d be here until four. He still has twenty minutes.“

Pansy shrugs and takes out her potion textbook. They just gave Slughorn their essays, so he gave them another one to finish before Samhain. They still have plenty of time, so Pansy is probably going to just go over the assignment and what needs to be in the essay.

Finch-Fletchley arrives after another ten minutes. And not alone.

„Good afternoon, heir Malfoy, heiress Parkinson, mister Gaunt, mister Nott, mister Zabini. Greg, Vince. I hope you don‘t mind that I brought another muggleborn student with me.“

Finch-Fletchley smiles somewhat awkwardly. Harry has to give it to him. Bringing Granger to their study group is a true test of their patience. Although Harry thinks that‘s not exactly what Finch-Fletchley wants to test.

Pansy smiles and Finch-Fletchley shudders.

„Let me guess. You tried to get more muggleborns to come with you but they refused, too scared of the horrible, terrible Slytherins.“

„Can you blame them?“ Granger‘s voice is as forceful as it was that first day on the train, her nose just a tad bit in the air. „You walk around the castle as if it belongs to you.“

Harry can feel the smirk growing on his face and when he looks towards his friends they have the same problem. Except Greg and Vince. Vince smiles wide and Greg snorts aloud.

„It kind of… does? To Harry at least.“

„Just a quarter of it. And not until he‘s able to claim his heirship.“

„Technically, since no other descendant of the founders claimed their right, Slytherins own the whole castle. But yeah,“ adds Draco more quietly, „you‘re right about the heirship part.“

„Yes,“ Harry waves his fingers around, silencing his friends. „Your point?“

„I don‘t care who you think you are! The founders started the school for everyone with magic. I don‘t care what you or your prejudiced ancestor think, but-“

„Careful!“ Harry hisses the word out quietly, but with venom. „Be careful how you talk about grandfather Salazar, little witch. You might not like what the founder of your house would have to say about you talking like that about his bonded.“

Grangers scoffs at that.

„There‘s not a single mention of any kind of bond between Godrick Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin in _Hogwarts: A History_.“

„That‘s because the oldest version that you can buy nowadays is the sixteenth edition,“ sneers Draco. „And if you bought it in Flourish and Blotts, as I assume you have, that‘s the twenty-first edition, ministry approved. Hasn‘t Rowena already set all that straight?“

Curiously, the answer comes from Vince and Greg. They snort, disgust apparent on their faces.

„Granger keeps arguing with Rowena. It‘s annoying.“

„It‘s not like you don‘t know the story of Merlin and Arthur or of the founders, Vince.“

„Not like you do, we don‘t.“

„And we didn‘t have the founders telling it to us as bedtime story.“

„And Rowena telling us the Albion stories when we were sick.“

„The point is,“ Harry forces his way into the conversation, steering it back to its previous track, „there‘s a reason why there‘s no textbook for first two years for history. Honestly, we don‘t need history lessons on Merlin and the founders, but they‘re key to not only our history, but also our culture. It‘s why there‘s such an emphasis on it for muggleborns. Father gave the painting that‘s teaching us history to Hogwarts in the hopes that it will make this part of our history interesting even to those of us who grew up listening to the stories.“

„But that‘s just it! They‘re just stories! The book says-“

„And Rowena Ravenclaw says differently.“ Pansy quickly glances towards Harry, aware that she‘s on thin ice, treating the muggleborn like this during the trial period. But Harry just relaxes back, so Pansy turns her sharp eyes towards Granger. „You have a book that has been first written in the fourteenth century, more than three hundred years after the events described actually happened, and that has been revisited so many times all the facts in it are just lucky guesses, next to a painting of a person who lived it, who literally was the one to found our great school. And you‘re going to trust the book?“

Anger makes Granger‘s eyes sparkle, Harry notices with interest.

„It‘s so easy for you to say! You lived with this. The only thing we have that can help us is the books.“

„It‘s not, though.“ And now even Blaise is joining them, baffled expression on his face. Harry realizes with surprise that in the way he leans in to better see Granger he blocks their view of Theo. Not only Granger‘s, but all of them. „The painting that teaches us history is a perfect example of that – Hogwarts is trying to give you every source you can use to acclimate to our culture. Lady Shackelbolt herself is another example of that, considering that she never taught before. It‘s not ideal and yes, you still need to learn much more than us during our first years. But don‘t you dare say that the only source you have is the books.“

Granger stares at Blaise, obviously trying to come up with an answer and fuming when she‘s not able to.

„Is it really Rowena Ravenclaw?“ Harry blinks in surprise at Finch-Fletchley. „The painting. Can paintings really… is it really true to who Rowena was when she was alive?“

Harry allows himself a smile when he answers: „The paintings are whatever their author and their model want them to be. The paintings in the Greeting Hall next to the Great Hall are not faithful copies of the founders. They weren‘t supposed to be – they‘re supposed to be helpful to every student that comes to them, to be able to answer their questions. They‘re full of knowledge the founders had, but none of their personality. Personal paintings, meant for family and friends, are different. They are faithful copies of the original people. Each common room should have one.“

Salazar Slytherin comes daily to check on his snakes, but he usually doesn‘t stay long. Unless someone is able to hold his attention by starting an interesting discussion, he disappears once again. Harry suspects he goes to the big painting in the dining room back at Slytherin castle. That painting has four copies – one in one house for each founder. And each of the four founders has a single frame in their common room that they can visit from their common painting. Nowadays they either spend most of their time in their common rooms (Helga and Rowena) or in the Slytherin dining room. Apparently, Godrick isn‘t too fond of the majority of his students. The rest of the founders say that‘s more of a reason to spend a lot of time there, but he says that with his temper it‘s safer to not be around them.

Granger frowns at Harry hard and sits down on a chair opposite him, between Blaise and Vince. This time Harry pays attention so he notices how Theo moves a little away from her. Then she looks up at Finch-Fletchley.

„Justin? Didn‘t you have some questions for them?“

Suddenly, Finch-Fletchley looks like he‘s re-thinking his decision to bring Granger over. Harry smirks.

„Um, right. May I?“ he gestures towards the chair that‘s opposite of Theo. Harry looks to Theo and so does the rest of his friends. After a moment Theo looks up in surprise. He seems unsure and Harry would love to let him think, but…

„Of course you may! This is public library, everyone can sit where-ever they want.“

Theo flinches and Harry is done with the situation. He nudges Pansy to move the chair next to her, opposite of Greg, on the other side of the table from Theo.

„Sit down, Finch-Fletchley. Now, you were interested in our economy.“ He shoots a quick look Draco‘s way. Draco is not looking at either of them, though, he‘s too busy with his essay for transfiguration. Transfiguration theory is devious and professor Longbottom seems very aware that without proper understanding of theory, at least the basics, there‘s no way you can actually do anything in transfiguration. „Have you found any more information about it?“

„No,“ Finch-Fletchley frowns as he sits down before he looks straight at Harry. „Is there any? There wasn‘t anything in the information packet we got with our letter.“

„Of course there isn‘t,“ mutters Pansy darkly. „Ministry is completely useless and Dumbledore is only a little bit better, and that‘s because the Board of Governments makes him.“

„That‘s not true.“ Harry is growing really tired of Granger. „Dumbledore is the greatest wizard to ever live!“

„Doubtful.“

„And I assume that your ancestor, that you no doubt think about, was greater than Dumbledore himself, who defeated one Dark Lord and helped defeat another not even fifty years later?“

Harry raises an unimpressed eyebrow at Granger. That‘s… a lot.

„I thought it was Chris Potter who defeated Voldemort.“ Finch-Fletchley gains the attention of the whole table. His cheeks turn a little pink. „I‘m sorry. I read that you‘re not supposed to say his name aloud, but why? Wouldn‘t such secrecy just make the legend about him greater, making it easier to fear him?“

Pansy snorts, so Harry allows himself a smirk.

„You‘re thinking about it as a muggle,“ Pansy says with disdain in her voice clearly apparent. But before Granger can argue with her, she continues: „People aren‘t afraid of the name. They‘re afraid of the curse.“

With interest, Harry watches Granger fight with herself. Obviously she‘s curious about what that means, yet doesn‘t want to ask. Pansy has to notice too, because she winks at Harry.

Lucky for Granger, Finch-Fletchley doesn‘t have that problem.

„What curse?“

„You didn‘t expect the Dark Lord to simply tolerate everyone who would dare to utter his name in disdain, did you?“ Finch-Fletchley looks actually afraid and Harry laughs. Pansy smirks, satisfied with Finch-Fletchley‘s reaction.

„But to answer your question, miss Granger, I wasn‘t thinking about Salazar Slytherin. After all, there‘s a reason why we still call on Merlin when we want something.“

Granger sets her jaw in such a way that it‘s apparent that she doesn‘t agree and isn‘t willing to change her mind. Harry doesn‘t care. Instead he focuses on Finch-Fletchley, who‘s once again listening intently to Pansy.

„Gringotts have a pamphlet for muggleborns who want to open a vault there. You should write them about it. If your parents have some money set away for you, you should definitely think about transferring it to Gringotts. Muggles do that, right? Setting money aside for their children.“

„The ones who have money, yes,“ Finch-Fletchley nods. „I‘ll… write to my parents about it. And to the… Gringotts. They‘re the owners of the bank at Diagon Alley, right? Professor McGonagall took us there along with all the other muggleborns when we went on our shopping trip. Right, Hermione?“

„I read about the history of goblin wars. It seems unsafe to keep money-“

„Please, don‘t insult the goblins like that.“ Harry is so over correcting every single misconception Granger has about the magical world. Especially since she seems to think that in the few months she knows about their world she learned better than all of them who grew up in it. „Goblins are exceptional at business. Your money is safe there. For a fee, of course. But their fees are rational for the services they provide. They do tend to be wary of wizards they don‘t know. Why don‘t one of us asks a goblin in charge of family vaults for those pamphlets? We can ask for more of them and you can then give it to the rest of your classmates,“ he adds to Finch-Fletchley. „It is an important part of everyday life. I wonder why lady Shackelbolt hasn‘t thought of the same yet.“

„Probably because she needs to explain our religion and holidays before Samhain and Yule arrive. And you know as well as we do that the goblins won‘t listen to either one of us. Not when we haven‘t claimed our heirships yet.“

Finch-Fletchley makes a face that‘s part confusion and part desperation.

„But I thought you two are heirs!“

Pansy‘s smile is more cutting than ever and Finch-Fletchley flinches once again.

„We are. But we haven‘t claimed it, officially. That usually happens when the heir is thirteen. The heir ring has to accept you. If it does, then the magic accepts you and you have new set of rights as an heir. Until then we have only those rights our parents let us have. You better write your father, Harry.“

Harry sighs and goes looking for a clean scroll. Father always says he should write more.

He still listens to Pansy‘s explanation about how magic is involved in the process of pressing the coins, and so some magic is pressed into the coins, giving the coins additional value, setting it relatively permanently, unlike what‘s happening with gold in a muggle world. Once again, Granger doesn‘t seem impressed by that explanation.

„But wizards have magic. They can make their own coins like that. That can‘t be stable for the economy.“

„Are you listening at all? Wizards don‘t make coins. Our magic is not strong enough for that. Some wizards and witches try, but their coins are usually quickly discovered and they are captured soon enough. Goblins make our coins.“

„That‘s even worse! Why would you trust someone you seem to be constantly in war with?“

„Because them pressing coins for us is self-serving,“ Draco growls, glaring at Granger. „They don‘t control only our economy, you know? Every magical being trusts goblins with their treasures. Goblins are the reason why we‘re able to trade with every intelligent magical being – vampires, veela, centaurs. Werewolves are mostly part of our society, but even them when they form a pack that‘s cut-off from the rest of the world. They do everything for a fee, so it‘s in their own interest for everything to be right. Because if it doesn‘t work out, they lose their interest, their fees, their treasures. In helping us, they help themselves. That‘s why you can trust a goblin to look after your gold, but not your young.“

„But that means that your economy is entirely independent from muggle economy,“ starts Finch-Fletchley with a frown. „But the Gringotts were still willing to trade our pounds for galleons. Why?“

Harry looks up when everyone gets quiet and he finds them all looking at him. He shrugs.

„Beats me.“

And he goes back to writing the letter for father. So Draco continues.

„You‘d have to ask them. My bet would be that they have some sort of investment in some muggle companies. Isn‘t that what your father has been doing lately, Harry? Investing in some muggle companies?“

Harrry sighs, but looks up once again.

„Father does mostly whatever Gornuk, the goblin in charge of our vaults, tells him to do. He does seem to be right a lot, though.“ From what Harry understands the Slytherin vaults went from slowly drying to overflowing with gold once again. Father also always does his own research before agreeing with Gornuk‘s ideas. From what Harry usually overhears from father‘s conversations with his uncles, he hasn‘t said no to anything yet.

„It‘s still not right, to use an entire race of people, who you oppress no less, as a bank just for your liking.“

Harry‘s patience is over.

„Goblins are not people, they were the ones who started providing the services for us, we never demanded that from them, and they earn enough to live like kings themselves. I‘m not saying wizard‘s treatment of other races hasn‘t been problematic over the centuries, but you‘re picking side without knowing the whole story, miss Granger. We‘re done here. Pansy, Draco, Blaise, Theo, you coming?“

Harry waits just long enough for all of his friends to pack. Even Greg leaves with them. Vince stays behind, but he doesn‘t look that happy about it. Harry thinks that he‘s staying for Finch-Fletchley. Where Greg seems to have problems connecting with people even in the house that‘s supposed to be full of kind and friendly people, Vince seems to grow more and more content every day, starting a careful friendship with Longbottom and now extending that possibility even to Finch-Fletchley.

„He brings her along one more time, I‘m retreating my statement about him and changing my first target after Samhain.“

„It was clever of him, though.“ Pansy turns her full glare at Blaise and he makes a quick step back, raising his hands. „I‘m just saying – after the fight he had with Draco, bringing someone with him was a good idea. And he chose someone who would test our dedication to help muggleborns. Very clever of him.“

„I agree with Blaise. But if he brings her along again, I‘ll help you plan your attack on both of them, Pansy.“

***

That weekend they‘re lucky. They‘re able to make it to Fluffy every single day. Thanks to that they find out that the room is cleaned on Saturday, probably morning – when they make it that afternoon to the room, it‘s clean and the bowls are full. The water is fresh.

„What now?“ hisses Pansy at them, clearly nervous that she has nothing to do around the beast. Harry turns his attention to Draco who is once again trying to reach the dog. He‘s been doing that each visit and to his credit, he‘s been getting closer to the dog. The day before he almost got to touch it before the left head snapped at him, so Harry is curious to see what happens today.

Draco touches the dog. Right under the collar of the middle neck. The middle head looks confused and holds itself still, while the right head barks excitedly and the left one licks Draco. Draco makes a face at that, but doesn‘t stop smiling. Then the right head nudges him and he laughs, scratching behind its enormous ear.

„See?“ he smiles at them brightly while each of his hands is busy scratching different head. „I told you I can get close enough to pet it.“

Harry rolls his eyes, aware that Pansy is doing exactly the same. But while Pansy stays standing as close to the door as is physically possible, Harry moves closer to the dog. The left head (the only one not being scratched by Draco) moves to sniff at him and then demands scratches itself. Harry just smirks at Draco as he does so. Draco huffs about the unfairness of it all, how he had to do all the hard work and Harry just reaps the benefits now.

After about twenty minutes of persuading and promising that the dog is not going to bite her, even Pansy gets to pet the dog.

„Just imagine Granger‘s reaction if she saw us, three Slytherins petting the dog she was apparently scared of.“

„Or better yet, Potter.“

Pansy‘s smile is back, as terrifying as ever.

„Now, heir Malfoy, you know me too well.“

„Wait, really? We haven‘t even properly talked to Potter yet while the mudblood has already been an annoyance.“

„She‘s a mudblood,“ Pansy shrugs. „That‘s what happens with them. Potter, on the other hand, has no manners and acts like such a celebrity.“

The dog lets them pet him, but still stays firmly set on the trap door. After another twenty minutes. Harry gives up his hope for actually getting to go beyond that door. Well, they still have time. And at that point they really need to leave or they‘re going to get caught by Dawlish, who‘s coming for the look-out duty in less than ten minutes.

Sunday afternoon they need to clean some already, so Pansy and Harry busy themselves with that while Draco goes right to the dog to scratch behind all six ears. Pansy teases Draco about him wanting to just avoid the cleaning, but Draco is happy to let the dog drool on him some. Harry doesn‘t understand it – for someone who‘s terribly obsessed with hygiene, Draco seems happy to be drenched with dog saliva in that moment.

***

On Tuesday, Finch-Fletchley comes to their study group once more, alone and looking sheepish.

Harry just nods in answer to his greeting and for a moment tense silence takes over. Finally, Finch-Fletchley sighs.

„I‘m sorry about… Granger. I see what you mean about her and I do not agree with her.“

Harry smiles before getting a handful of pamphlets from Gringotts from his bag. Father sent it with his letter that arrived for Monday‘s breakfast. Harry himself was a little impressed with the speed with which his father managed to obtain those.

„These should help clear or at least confirm what we talked about last time. Do you have any more questions?“

„Do I ever,“ sighs Finch-Fletchley, a little tired, mostly just resigned. His eyes stray towards Pansy, who‘s going through Millicent‘s essay and scratching whole lines of it out. Millicent looks more and more distressed as she watches it. Harry‘s not surprised. They‘re working on the transfiguration essay. The one that‘s due tomorrow. Harry looks towards Theo, who‘s doing basically the same thing for Greg and his charms essay. That leaves Draco, who already got into a fight with Finch-Fletchley once, Blaise, who grows easily annoyed when people don‘t follow his thoughts quickly enough, and Harry. When Harry asked Greg about Vince, he said something about him and Longbottom going to the greenhouse to do some extra work for professor Sprout.

With a sigh Harry moves the free chair next to himself and gestures for Finch-Fletchley to join him.

„Thank you.“ If nothing else, Finch-Fletchley at least has manners. „I feel like there‘s a million details that I still don‘t understand. What‘s up with the hair of witches? Lady Shacklebolt just said that it‘s polite to keep your hair up in every situation at all the time, that let down hair is just for privacy of your family and closest friends. But why?“

Harry smiles a little, listening to Finch-Fletchley rant. There‘s frustration evident in the way he talks, in such a way that there wasn‘t before. Harry feels like after last time, Finch-Fletchley is more relaxed. But he‘s still polite, conscious of his manners, so Harry doesn‘t mind.

„We‘re still children, so privacy is somewhat… lose term. I don‘t know how many Hufflepuff girls keep up with the tradition, but for school children it‘s acceptable to let their hair down in the privacy of their own common room, no matter that there‘s no way every single person in the room is their friend. And can‘t you really come up with a practical reason why women should keep their traditionally long hair tied up?“

Finch-Fletchley frowns, but nods. Of course, by then Pansy listens to their conversation.

„It‘s hard to duel for your family honour on the drop of wands when your hair is all over the place. It gets in the way of everything you do and it‘s too easy for your opponent to grab your hair and then you‘re screwed. And back then you could be drawn into a duel at any given moment. The only moment you could afford to have your hair let down was with your family in your home, warded as much as possible. Okay, Millie, this is better than the potions essay last week.“

She goes back to helping Millicent, so Harry turns back towards Finch-Fletchley. He‘s rubbing the bridge of his nose, seemingly angry at himself.

„Yeah, that… that makes sense.“ He frowns some and looks once again at Pansy, worry clear in his eyes. „Is it still something you need to worry about?“

„Not nearly as much as it was in the eleventh century,“ Harry answers with a smirk. „We much more enjoy verbal battles nowadays. But I believe that practicality is still a big part of the reason why witches keep with the tradition.“

„Why don‘t they just cut their hair?“

Harry misses the way Pansy‘s eyes stray towards Finch-Fletchley, flashing with something close to interest, before she makes herself turn back towards her friend to help her avoid the disaster that her essay spelled just an hour ago.

„I think it‘s a thing of pride? I mean, wizard‘s answer to the question of practicality was to cut their hair. Witches just did better. And they love to rub it in our faces.“ Harry waits for another question, but Finch-Fletchley seems somewhat set on this particular problem. „Don‘t think too much about it. Just accept it and never complain about the time a witch spends on her hair. Complimenting it every time she changes the hairstyle is also a good idea. Do you have something else you want to talk about? Because if not, we have essays to write.“

Turns out, Finch-Fletchley is having trouble wrapping his head about the theory of transfiguration. He‘s doing well with potions and surprisingly well in charms for a muggleborn, but transfiguration is another thing entirely. As Harry said, that theory is wicked.

They spend the rest of the afternoon by surprisingly enjoyable discussion of transfiguration theory. Finch-Fletchley‘s questions are insightful and when Draco lets him read his essay once Finch-Fletchley admits that he‘s still not used to writing essays, he even asks some clarifying questions that make Draco frown and grumble and re-write some parts of his essay. Not because he was wrong, of course, but because Finch-Fletchley points out that he‘s not making his thoughts clear. All in all, Finch-Fletchley is not just sitting there, taking everything in, anymore, but he‘s a full-fledged member of their study group.

They leave the library only for dinner and even then Finch-Fletchley walks all the way to the Great Hall with them. He says goodbye with a soft smile and respectful nod to them before heading to the Hufflepuff table while the rest of them head to the Slytherin one.

„What if we move our study session after our… visit with our Fluffy friend?“ Harry smirks a little at the name drop while quickly looking around, making sure that no one overheard. Or made the connection.

„We will have time to study with Finch-Fletchley every day, then.“ Blaise seems amused by Harry‘s try to not say that out loud. „I‘m not against that. He seems interesting. With just a little coaching he might be interesting to talk to.“

„Coaching that you could help with, you know,“ grumbles Draco some. He‘s still not happy about Finch-Fletchley basically making him rewrite his essay.

„He asked without being demanding or condescending. That‘s rare from boy muggleborns, especially when talking about witch business. I like that.“

Harry just nods and waits for Theo and Millicent to say something. But they don‘t. Harry lets them all sit down and start dinner, before he turns towards Millicent.

„What do you think about him, Millicent?“

Millicent flinches a little, obviously surprised about the question. Then she simply shrugs.

„I don‘t really know him. I wasn‘t paying attention.“

Harry frowns at that. Obviously she doesn‘t know him – none of them truly do.

„Well, would you be against him joining us more often?“

It‘s not like Millicent herself joins them daily. She still seems uncomfortable joining them most of the time. Maybe letting Pansy at her wasn‘t the best idea.

Millicent shrugs and that‘s the end of it. So instead Harry moves towards Theo. He‘s still quiet, holds himself still and not touching anyone, not even on accident. But it‘s more evident that he‘s listening to their conversation nowadays, even though he hardly ever joins himself. He‘s more relaxed about answering questions, though.

„Theo? What do you think?“

Theo doesn‘t look surprised that someone asks him a question anymore, Harry is happy to note. He just looks up at him and just looks for a moment.

„I like him. We should do that.“

Harry smiles.

„It‘s settled then. Do we know who has the third floor watching duty tomorrow right after lunch?“

***

Bole has the duty that Wednesday. They don‘t even hang around long enough for him to notice them.

Harry is not happy about spending the whole afternoon in the library. He knows that it was his idea to make sure that Finch-Fletchley could join them daily, but he thought that he‘d get to spend at least some time before that outside the library. And he would, but Draco refused to join him in going through the towers that afternoon, citing that he needs to finish their herbology essay. And Pansy refused to let him go alone.

Finch-Fletchley notices them, Harry knows, but he just nods at them cordially before following his classmates to a table three rows over, the one where the rest of the Hufflepuffs sit at. Harry follows him with his eyes for a minute, before excusing himself and following behind.

„-don‘t understand,“ Macmillian is saying when Harry comes close enough to hear what‘s going on at their table. He busies himself with some of the books there. Most of the ones he opens are dry and boring, charms theory explained so dryly he would never guess it‘s the same subject that excites him so much usually.

Harry frowns and moves just enough that he can glimpse at the Hufflepuffs in just the right moment to see Finch-Fletchley and Jones exchange a look. Smith moves just slightly right then so Harry quickly hides back behind a shelf.

„Maybe two hundred years ago, but today? Our cultures are pretty different nowadays.“

Macmillan snorts.

„Name one example.“

Another short moment of silence follows.

„No one owns gold anymore, for start.“

„What? Not even in coins?“

„No, definitely not in those. I mean, jewelry is a thing and people have gold jewelry all the time and some super rich people still invest in gold. But it‘s definitely not a true measure of wealthiness anymore.“

„What is, then?“

„Money.“

„Yeah, but to have money-“

„You don‘t need gold for that. Not in muggle world, not anymore.“ Finch-Fletchley sounds frustrated, irritated. Harry is interested, though. He knows a lot about the muggle world, probably more than his friends, but this is something he never really thought about. His father told him about the wars and weapons. Not this. „Our economy is… well, somewhere I read that it‘s a myth. A system of believes. Our money is made from a metal that‘s basically worthless on its own and paper that‘s definitely worthless, protected by layers and techniques that are not worth much more. It‘s our continued belief in the system that makes it work.“

Another bound of silence.

„That‘s insane!“

For once, Harry actually agrees with Macmillan. What a disturbing thought.

„It is what it is. It works. And it‘s probably the core difference between our cultures – in a lot of ways, wizards are back in middle ages. Which makes sense, to be honest, considering how we need the technology to make up for our lack of magic.“

Harry rolls his eyes. Is seriously no one going to point out that Finch-Fletchley has magic?

„A lot of this… belief stuff comes with it. I mean, since the man made it to the moon nothing‘s really impossible even for muggles, you know?“

Another bound of silence.

„They what?!“

Honestly, same.

„That was like over twenty years ago.“ That‘s Jones, finally joining in. „Internet is much more exciting.“

„Right? I can‘t believe that while Brian is working on his school project with a high-schooler in America in real time I‘m stuck with writing my parents letters via owls.“

„Brian‘s school is connected?“

„Well, it is Eton.“

Harry doesn‘t know what an internet is and the conversation twiddles out, so Harry goes back to the Slytherin table. Well, Vince and Greg and now even Longbottom are here, so it‘s not really “Slytherin” table.

Pansy smirks at him as he sits down, but no one else reacts in any way to him.

„Did you know that muggles landed on the moon?“

That gets a reaction from them. They all look at him with disbelief clear in their eyes. Then Blaise frowns.

„Why would they even want to land on the moon? Isn‘t it just a rock and nothing else?“

„Really? You never look at the moon and want to go there?“

„Not really,“ he shrugs. „I prefer it as a concept of poems than an actual place to visit.“

„He does have a point, you know.“

Pansy makes a face before she turns towards Millicent.

„What about you? Do you also think the moon is better of as a romantic concept or would you rather visit it yourself?“

„Neither.“ Millicent looks up from her textbook. She has an ink stain on her cheek. „I don‘t care about the moon either way.“

Pansy looks at her appreciatively before moving on to Theo.

„What about you, Theo? Do you also prefer to think of moon as a romantic idea rather than a real thing?“

„I don‘t know.“ Theo answers without raising his head, without even stopping his writing. Then he pauses just long enough to finish the sentence before looking up, straight at Pansy. „The poets certainly seem taken with the idea of the moon, but according to the few papers I read on the moon itself it is no more than just a rock. But then again, it has strong enough gravitation field on its own that it influences things around it, Earth included. So I‘d say that‘s pretty impressive for a piece of rock. But no, I don‘t want to go there myself.“ He goes back to his essay, reading through the last few sentences before starting to write again. It‘s only after about two sentences when he realizes that no one moved since he stopped talking, all looking at him. „What?“

„How do you know all that? I mean, we covered some of that in our astrology lessons, but...“

Theo‘s face shuts off.

„Grandfather likes to send books as gifts for… everything.“

And he goes back to his work, resolutely ignoring everyone. Draco frowns and opens his mouth, but Harry kicks him under the table, silently shaking his head when Draco turns to glare at him.

Harry has no idea why the relationship between Theo and Harry‘s uncle Emory is as complicated as it is, but it‘s not his place to ask. Not yet anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The theory about the common myth Justin mentions is from a book I've read recently - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. It was first published in 2011, in Hebrew. English translation was published in 2014.  
> So yeah, I'm aware that there's no way Justin was able to read it in the early 90's. But I'm sure that it's not Harari's original theory and besides, it's something I really liked and it fit well with the issue of different economies.  
> I can really recommend the book, although I checked the scholarly reception of the book and apparently it's not that fascinating for experts. But even some of them said that the book is a good read for people who are not experts.  
> So, what do you think? Is adopting Justin Finch-Fletchley a good idea?


	9. Hairstyles and declaring war

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Weasley twins pull another prank and this time, they anger someone they shouldn't have - Pansy.
> 
> A light chapter about little, just some schoolboy fun in between exlaining wizarding culture and actual plot.

Thursday morning, they all walk to breakfast as they‘re used to. That‘s the one time in a day when it‘s really all of them – even Daphne and Davis join them. The girls prefer to work on their homework in the comfort of the common room. Harry‘s not going to say it‘s not comforting – he often spends weekends there, just hanging around his housemates, not having to constantly check his appearance all the time. But he likes helping his friends and thanks to the library he‘s able to cultivate his alliances with Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley. So yeah, library is better for him, but he understands the comfort of the common room. Especially since their bookshelf in there has all the necessary books to write all the essays during their first two years.

But the moment they walk through the door (the giant door, granted, but it‘s still just a door) to the Great Hall, the girls yelp and quickly put on the hoods they all have on their robes. But it‘s not exactly enough to cover their long hair. Not when it‘s suddenly all let down. The hood is not enough to cover all of it, considering that all of the four girls have it so long it passes under their waist, up to her bum in Daphne‘s case. Millicent takes just a second longer than the rest of the girls to put her hood up.

Draco steps back a little to free the way back out of the hall.

„There‘s a bathroom-“

„We know!“ snaps Pansy as she power-walks almost all over him. Draco takes another step back. Harry looks after the girls, furious that someone would do that. Not only to his friends, but to anyone.

Their hairstyles are their armors. Touching them in any way is declaring war.

The Weasley twins have no idea what they‘ve just done.

„What are you four doing, standing in the middle of the door? Move.“

„Wait, no!“

„Prefect Higgs, don‘t!“

But, of course, they‘re late. Higgs makes another two steps before she freezes, so the fall of her up to that point perfectly done hair is much more dramatic. Then she moves her head, her icy blue eyes g laring at them with such intensity that all four of them immediately make a step back.

„It wasn‘t us!“

„We tried to warn you!“

„Bathroom. That way.“ Higgs raises an impressed eyebrows at Draco. He shrugs. „The girls from our year are already there.“

„Thank you, heir Malfoy.“ Then she moves her eyes towards the rest of them, eyeing Theo‘s slim form for a long while. Then she steps out of the Great Hall, waving her wand around. Her hair raises into two cute looking buns on the top of her head. It still looks good, of course, but it‘s nowhere near the complicated looks she usually wears. „I‘m going to go check on the girls. Can you stay here and warn any girls with an up-do? Wait for another prefect, tell them what‘s going on. Mister Nott, please, get some proper breakfast.“

She turns away and walks swiftly towards the bathroom. Harry moves his opinion of her. Suddenly, Dawlish is the prefect he is the least terrified of.

They do as they‘re told. Partly because it‘s what they were told to do by their prefect, but partly because no girl should feel betrayed in a place that should be her home. It‘s funny to see different girls react differently, though. Mostly because Slytherin girls all listen to them and do the one-eighty and go right back to the common room. Ravenclaw girls usually don‘t even seem to notice them. One doesn‘t react at all when her hair unfolds itself and falls on her shoulders, while the rest of them usually notice, but just frown and tuck the hair away before continuing.

Luckily, prefects Farley and Nettle come in soon after, snipping at each other as usual. For someone who seem to constantly snap at each other they spend a lot of time together. They tell them to go get breakfast before Nettle takes the look out and Farley goes back to the common room, to inform the rest of the house and to organize a breakfast there.

The rest of the boys turn towards Harry. Harry glances into the Great Hall. It‘s still not eight yet, so the hall is fairly empty. Slytherin table is as deserted as the rest of them, though, which isn‘t usual. There‘s just few boys who didn‘t come with any girls. The rest of them just turned around along with their friends.

„Let‘s go back,“ he says instead of just walking to the Slytherin table. Showing solidarity and all.

Pansy is, obviously, livid.

„I‘m going to set the blood traitors‘ robes on fire.“

„You will not, heiress Parkinson,“ admonishes professor Vector. But honestly, Harry is much more terrified of the icy rage coming off of Vector than the much less focused rage of Pansy. Pansy is more like a hurricane, while professor Vector is a tornado – both devastating, but with tornado, the damage is usually bigger and, well, more focused. „Besides, we don‘t officially know who‘s responsible for that. Now, all of you need to go to class. Do not lash out on Gryffindors,“ she adds sharply. „We‘re taking this to lord Slytherin and the Board themselves.“

There‘s a lot unsaid in that sentence. She‘s going over Dumbledore because she knows he would do nothing. And it‘s not just her, so she‘s probably going to cooperate with at least one another head of house. Harry would guess Ravenclaw.

The only Slytherin girls who were affected are the first years. Pansy reacts with rage, but Davis and Millicent both have bloodshot eyes and Daphne sits rigidly in her armchair, her eyes gleaming and Harry isn‘t sure if it‘s with tears or rage, same as Pansy. When the boys came about three seventh year witches were just finishing Millicent‘s hair. Now their hairstyles look even more complicated and precise than before. Harry smiles when he sees that. That‘s the Slytherin revenge – overcome the complications and come out of it looking even fiercer than you did walking in.

Of course that‘s not the end of it.

They manage to visit Fluffy again. They keep it short, just cleaning around, getting him fresh water and petting him for a while, before they have to go to make it for their Latin lesson. Finch-Fletchley smiles at them and nods respectfully, before he continues talking to Jones. Harry noticed lately that he‘s with her a lot. He‘s not sure if it‘s because they‘re both muggleborn or because he genuinely likes her. Harry himself doesn‘t mind her, but also doesn‘t find her that interesting. But that might be just because he does have a reputation and she seems just a little bit terrified of him.

It‘s one of the extremely rare sunny days of autumn in Scotland, so they decide to head out for some fresh air. Theo begs off and Millicent doesn‘t even say anything before just getting up and leaving in the direction of their common room.

Surprisingly, Pansy takes the lead and she has them going at quite a pace.

„Do you have any idea where we‘re going?“ hisses Draco at them about twenty minutes after leaving the castle.

„Considering that we‘re on a proper trail, I‘d say Hogsmeade. Keep a look out for the barrier. If we cross it, then we‘re in serious trouble.“

They do make it up to the gate that‘s on the most direct way to Hogwarts. Pansy stops right in front of it and stares at it for a long minute, before she sharply turns towards her friends.

„So, our turn. I propose we make every single Gryffindor‘s hair disappear.“

Draco‘s smile is instant and nasty, but Harry and Blaise exchange a somewhat worried looks.

„That‘s… an idea, but we can‘t exactly target Gryffindors like that.“ Pansy glares at Harry and he has to fight an urge to step back. He does raise his hands up in placating gesture. „We were able to do that last time because they targeted Slytherin. Don‘t start things, just retaliate, remember? And if we do it without targeting, it would include us, too. Plus, I‘m not sure how to make it so that only boys would be affected.“

Pansy still looks at him angrily, but Draco‘s enthusiasm is gone and his face is somewhat whiter than usual.

„Yeah, let‘s… let‘s not do that.“

Pansy huffs and leans back into the gate. It‘s closed, but Harry still eyes it carefully. Pansy rolls her eyes.

„The magical barrier is behind the stone. What am I, an idiot?“

Harry doesn‘t say that no, she‘s not an idiot, but she is angry and she does tend to do impulsive things when she‘s angry.

They all do. Grandpa Sal says that the difference between Gryffindors and Slytherins isn‘t their temper. Both groups have temper. The difference is that while Gryffindors hardly ever bother to control their temper, Slytherins are careful to learn to do so from young age. Partly, the difference is in the way they‘re raised. But partly it‘s because Slytherins are usually more ambitious, leading their paths to politics and other careers that need them to control their temper. If a quidditch player is temperamental, nobody bats an eye. If a politician or a doctor loses control in the middle of an important situation, it‘s a scandal.

But they are still just eleven. They‘re still learning.

„We are still going to do something, right?“ The sigh Blaise lets out with the question is somewhere between tired and excited. It‘s a weird combination. Harry smirks.

„I might not have been perfectly honest with you about the notebook of potions from Rabastan.“

Pansy and Draco grin at him and Blaise frowns.

„Please tell me the potions in it aren‘t actually illegal in Britain.“

„Not that,“ Harry rolls his eyes. „It‘s just – I don‘t have just one. And they‘re not only of potions.“

As was said, father forbidden him to try the potions while at the castle, but he was happy to help him figure out the charms and some of the transfiguration from the other notebooks Rabastan gave him.

„What are we waiting for, then? Let‘s go!“

***

Nobody blinks an eye when Pansy follows them to the boy‘s dormitory, Harry is happy to note. Of course, they find Theo curled in his favorite corner of the sofa with a book. Not his scarily complicated transfiguration book, but a book nonetheless. He looks up and turns around when they come in and sighs when he sees Pansy come in with them. He closes his book as he turns to see them.

„What are you planning as a retaliation, then?“

Harry smiles at him widely as he hurries to his suitcase. He‘s unpacked all his clothes, but they don‘t really have cases for their books, so they all keep them in their suitcases. He pulls all five of his notebooks from the suitcase and starts handing them out. Pansy takes her with a glee and even Theo smiles shyly at Harry when he takes an offered notebook.

Ideas start flying over the room, but soon they realize that if they don‘t want to target it, they will have to come up with something special. Something that they themselves won‘t mind. And, of course, something that would be clearly a retaliation against someone (once again the Slytherin common room seems to find it obvious that it was the Weasley twins and Harry has no reason not to trust them) embarrassing most of the girls by forcibly letting their hair down.

„What about a hair growing charm?“

Pansy‘s head shots up and she leans over Blaise to look over Theo‘s shoulder to see the charm he‘s talking about.

„Would it affect girls who already have long hair? Because that would also create a problem with their hairstyles, wouldn‘t it?“

„The note doesn‘t say. But… it has a source?“

Now even Harry goes over to Theo and looks at where he‘s pointing. He notices how Theo tenses, so he‘s careful not to touch him, but doesn‘t comment it.

„ _Witch‘s codex: From Practical to Fabulous in Few Simple Charms_?“ Harry scrunches his nose at the book. Where the hell did Rabastan find that?

„Doesn‘t sound like something we‘ll find in the library.“

„Not the Hogwarts one, maybe.“

With that Pansy stands up and leaves the room. The boys look at each other a little nervous, but Pansy is soon back with a small, slim book.

„Haven‘t noticed how our library has a whole section about grooming charms?“

Draco looks betrayed for a moment.

„There are books about grooming charms in there and you didn‘t tell me?!“

Pansy rolls her eyes and opens the book.

„Does it say what page it‘s supposed to be on?“

Turns out, the charm isn‘t that complicated and it doesn‘t work on hair already in an up-do. Pansy even agrees they can try it on her, even though Harry is aware that she‘s more than proud of the complicated hairstyle a seventh year witch created on her head – a bun on top of her head circled by a thin braid and a braid leading from the base of her skull up to the bun. Complicated, precise, impressive, and probably a style Pansy herself can‘t do yet. But she still chooses to try the charm on herself.

It doesn‘t work. She smiles wickedly at Harry, who was chosen to try the charm in the first place, before raising her wand and firing the charm at Harry. Harry‘s hair grows down to his waist, heavy and hot. Harry frowns as he runs his fingers through some of it before he sighs and goes to his wardrobe, where he has a mirror. He uses it to cast Diffindo as often as is needed to get his usual length back. He stays in front of the mirror for a while, frowning at himself. His hair is not the same as it was before, but it is the same length and he can‘t figure out what it is that‘s bothering him so much about it. In the end he just shrugs and goes back to his friends.

Pansy is frowning at him.

„What good is it if you can just cut it off right after it grows?“

„There‘s also a protection charm for it,“ Theo taps the still open pages of the book. „The charm is supposed to last only a night when a witch wants to shine. To avoid accidents the book includes a protection to that charm that should last ten to twelve hours. That should do, right?“

Pansy studies the protection charm before turning towards Draco with a smirk. Before she can actually do anything Harry calls her wand to himself. Pansy frowns at him.

„We still need to go to dinner and we don‘t want people to know we‘re trying anything. You can try it on Draco after dinner.“

„Hey!“

„If she does it at seven, we can cut it before breakfast tomorrow.“

***

It works exactly as they expect. They all try to cut Draco‘s hair, but it doesn‘t work. Draco grumbles some, but Pansy teaches him few hair-styling charms and he seems happy enough with that.

„How are we going to do it, then?“ Theo asks after a few moments of the three boys watching Draco learning his hairstyle charms. Harry now turns towards Theo. „We can hardly go from one boy to another and cast those charms on them. And I don‘t know about you, but I don‘t know how to anchor a charm to one place, let alone two that are intertwined. This morning the charm was anchored to the door to the Great Hall and that is a good plan, but we can‘t exactly do that ourselves, can we?“

Harry looks from Theo to Draco and to Pansy and to Blaise. All their faces, so excited up to now, fall, and Harry frowns. Out of the five of them he‘s the best at charms, but even he can‘t do that yet. When he last did a small prank like that at the Castle, he had help.

That‘s when it dawns on him.

„Not us, but I know someone who can help us.“

He‘s out of the door before anyone can say something. The sixth year bedrooms are behind the third door on the left. Or rather, their dormitory is. When Harry opens the door there he‘s greeted by the sight of the sofa similar to the one in their room, one big window right opposite of him, and five different doors from the room.

Right. Because after OWLs everyone gets their own bedroom. Marcus was excited to get his own room. For third year bedrooms are shared by two pupils maximum. Marcus‘ year has five pupils, which means that one of them had a solo room for all three years. Third year it was the student with best grades. Fourth year it was Marcus, because he made quidditch team the year before and it was assumed that he would make it again. Fifth year the prefect got it. Marcus was excited to get his own room back.

Luckily, each door has a little label on it with name of the student residing there. Thanks to that Harry doesn‘t have to go into each of the rooms to find Marcus.

He finds him. In his bed. With a witch.

Harry… the sound that escapes him is not something he‘s proud of and he quickly turns around just to run into the door he closed after himself. There‘s quick rustling sound from the bed and the unmistakable sound of Marcus‘ soft cursing.

„I thought Nettle told you not to burst to any of our bedrooms!“

„That applies to you, too?!“

Harry carefully turns back around and opens one eye. Both their robes are still on the floor, but the witch‘s shirt is closed once again and even though her face is still a little pink, a blank mask is back in place on her face. Marcus on the other hand didn‘t even bother to put his shirt back on or to flatten his hair. He‘s palming his face with one hand and his other hand is curled around one wrist of the girl. Harry can feel himself growing hot in the face.

„Of course it applies to me, too! We‘re not in the castle anymore.“

„Well, technically-“

„Harrison!“

„Well, it seems like you‘re busy. I better go.“

„No, don‘t-“

„It‘s fine, Marcus,“ the witch says as she picks up her robe from the floor and shrugs it on. „Let me know when you‘re done with the nursery.“

„Hey now-“

„Shut up, Gaunt.“

And Harry does. Not because Marcus tells him to, but because Marcus calls him Gaunt. That‘s… not good.

The door behind the girl closes and Marcus collapses back to the bed. Harry hesitates for a moment before stepping closer to him.

„They warned me. Children are such cockblocks, they said. But I thought that‘s only your own children. You know, when you settle down and bond and all that shit.“

„Sorry.“

Marcus sighs and sits back up, sheets still pooled on his lap.

„Alright. What was so important that it warranted you to barge into my room, then?“

„Well, you know how we didn‘t go to the Great Hall today because there was this… charm, I guess, that made all the girls who walked through the door to have their hairstyles ruined?“

Marcus nails him with an unimpressed stare. Fair enough.

„We thought that that deserves retaliation.“

„And by ‚we‘ you mean...“

„Pansy, obviously.“

Marcus snorts, but moves to get off the bed, seemingly looking for something.

„What did you come up with, then, and what do you need me for?“

Marcus finally finds his shirt, just under the bed, and frowns at it. With a sigh he tosses it to a laundry basket in the corner before moving to his wardrobe for another one.

„We found a charm that will make hair grow. Only those that are already let down, so it won‘t affect witches with hairstyles that were affected today. We also found a protection charm that will stop people from simply cutting their hair for ten to twelve hours, so that they will have to live one day with long hair.“

„And by them you mean...“

Harry makes a face.

„Us, too. It wasn‘t targeted to Slytherin, so we‘ll just have to settle for targeting all the boys. But the problem is, there‘s no way we can anchor those charms to the door the same way today‘s charm was.“

„So you need me to anchor that charm to the door to the Great Hall, making it so that everyone who walks in will be affected. Except the girls who will have their hair in an up-do. Which means, I will have long hair.“

Harry grins a little awkwardly at Marcus.

„All in the name of revenge? I‘m sure your girlfriend will appreciate that.“

„Not! My girlfriend.“ Marcus moves quickly to stick a finger in Harry‘s face. „And you are not writing a single word to anyone in our family about… this. Emory has already made enough subtle remarks about bonding, I do not need you to make my… arrangement with Valerie into something it‘s not.“

„Okay, okay, I won‘t, I promise. So, will you do it?“

Marcus sighs and once again curses softly.

„Let‘s see what you guys have.“

The moment Marcus sees Draco‘s hair his annoyed face grows into genuine smile.

„Nice hair, Malfoy.“

„Thank you.“

Draco looks actually proud of the hairstyle. It‘s a simple braid, one that still trails down bellow his shoulders, so it‘s not that fancy, but it‘s well made and Draco charmed it himself.

Marcus takes the book and reads the page. Then he raises his wand and tries his own cutting charm on Draco‘s hair. It doesn‘t do anything.

„Nice. Who charmed it that way?“ Pansy simply raises her hand. „Well done, Parkinson. I‘ll take care of it. Do not speak about it to anyone else and do not perform hairstyle charms on your own hair in the Great Hall, Malfoy. It will raise more questions than necessary. It will be done before Samhain next week.“

***

It goes off Monday morning.

It‘s a little surprising to Harry, who assumed that it would take some time for Marcus to prepare, but apparently the charm really isn‘t that complicated.

They‘re one of the first ones in the room, as always, and Daphne almost, almost loses her icy calm when she sees the four boys with long hair. Blaise is the most complicated – his wild curls have much bigger volume than the rest of them and it still grows up to his waist. Blaise is scowling even before it stops growing.

„That‘s… quite a look.“

„Shut up, Gaunt,“ Blaise basically snaps at him before quietly muttering something about „not thinking this through“. They move to the table where they ostentatiously try to cut their hair. When it doesn‘t work, Pansy offers to charm their hair into braids so it‘s easier for them to function throughout the day.

Harry ends up with about five tight braids on top of his head leading to a bun on the base of his skull. He likes it. Theo‘s hairstyle is similar, but still ends up looking different. His braids are somewhat smaller and the bun itself is also made of braids, unlike Harry‘s. It suits him. Draco ends up with a crown of braids, the same one Pansy seems to like. Draco carefully touches it before smiling softly and nodding at Pansy in thanks.

Pansy‘s try at Blaise‘s hair ends up in disaster. Poofy, awkward looking disaster.

„How did we not think to look up hair charms for black witches?“ Blaise grumbles. By then the Hall is full enough with frustrated boys that Harry is positive that no one is paying attention to them. „I mean, there obviously are some. I should have looked it up.“

„May I?“

Blaise looks at Daphne as if she just said she wants to paint his hair pink, but in the end he nods. With a wave of her wand and a muttered charm Daphne neutralizes the charm Pansy used. Pansy mutters quietly, but she can‘t exactly complain.

Marcus comes into the hall just then and makes sure to cause a small scene when his hair grows down to his waist, along with the whole quidditch team. But when Higgs notices Harry looking he winks at him. Harry smiles.

Daphne‘s try at a hairstyle is better than Pansy‘s, but it still doesn‘t look as neat as their styles. Blaise‘s braids are really thin and not really neat and they are still falling down almost to his waist.

„I had several dolls with different hairs to practice charms on,“ she‘s saying to Blaise. „Veela‘s hair, for example, is very delicate and you need to be careful about it. With France having a decent population of Veela, my parents thought it wise for me to know what to do with that hair, too, in case I can sometime help someone with Veela hair. Same with black hair, actually. I‘m better with delicate than with the power black hair seems to require, but I got basics of both.“ With another wave and another charm the braids form a heavy looking bun. „This is the best I can remember.“

„Thank you, heiress Greengrass.“

Then Daphne smirks and nods at him before turning back to Davis.

All along the Slytherin table the girls take to help their friends and boyfriends and allies with their hair. Soon enough all of them are sporting fancy hairstyles. Ravenclaws are having too much fun with it – not many allow their female friends to do the charms on them, but almost all of them want to learn the charms. A good reason to learn more is all they need to have fun with whatever is happening. Hufflepuffs are somewhat baffled by the happenings. It doesn‘t help that just a handful of their girls know the charms, so they all crowd around those chosen few and they don‘t really have the time for their own breakfast.

Gryffindors are the most vocal in their displeasure. Actually, Harry amends when he looks around, they are basically only one truly bothered about the situation. Everyone else just adapts, some of them even have a good laugh out of it. But Gryffindors? They argue and protest and demand someone make it right.

Harry is careful to see the twins‘ reaction. But they are ambushed as soon as they walk through the door. Apparently their housemates once more assume that they are the culprits behind this joke. And while the twins deny it, they‘re still laughing about it.

Luckily, once again, the teachers find it mostly amusing. Professor Longbottom seems outright annoyed at all the complaining her Gryffindors do about it and even professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress, tells them to either deal with it, or find their own way around it. Dumbledore, of course, is fuming, but because this time the joke hasn‘t been targeted on anyone in particular, he can‘t do anything about it. He speaks up during breakfast and there‘s something about him expecting the young witches to behave better, but he can‘t really point it to anyone. And while he does glance towards the Slytherin table, Harry notices that he hardly notices their end of the table. Good. Underestimate the first years.

Professor Evans even uses that chance to show them few of her favorite hair charms. Only after she goes over some curriculum things, of course, but she says that they are comfortably ahead of the Hufflepuff/Gryffindor class, so she can take twenty minutes of the class to talk with them about charms. Daphne and Pansy are even able to show her some charms she didn‘t know before and she awards each of them ten points for exceptional charms work and willingness to share that work.

All in all, Harry and his friends feel pretty good about their plan. Sure, Marcus was the one to actually put it in action (and by their behavior the quidditch team helped), but it was their idea and they planned it.

Which is something that he won‘t be telling his father, obviously. He will probably hear about it from the Board of Governors, but it won‘t really matter.

„Harrison.“

Harry freezes when he hears his father calling out to him when he‘s just about to enter the Great Hall. Slowly he turns around and smiles at his father.

„Hello, father.“

Father raises an unimpressed eyebrow as he examines his hairstyle.

„Impressive wand-work, heiress Parkinson. Thank you for looking out for my son.“

„Of course, lord Slytherin,“ Pansy curtsies playfully, hiding her smile in the bow of her head. „Is father here with you?“

„I‘m sorry, both Florence and Narcissa left about twenty minutes ago. Headmaster Dumbledore wanted to see me privately after the meeting of the Board. Apparently, he feels that the subject of the emergency Board meeting has already been closed.“ Father‘s eyes flicker to Harry‘s hair and just for a moment flicker with amusement. „I‘m on my way off, too. We‘ll see you children soon enough. Be ready to floo after your last class, Harrison. Pansy, Draco, I‘m sure your parents feel the same way.“

„Of course, lord Slytherin.“

„We‘ll be ready, lord Slytherin.“

„It was pleasure to see you two again. Mister Nott, mister Zabini.“

Harry smiles at the sharp upturn of father‘s lips as he turns around and leaves.

„Do you think something will come from professor Vector going straight to the Board about the first hair incident?“

„I doubt it. And I think we didn‘t help with that.“

Pansy frowns, but then shrugs.

„Still worth it.“


	10. Blessed Samhain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title says - Blessed Samhain!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware that the whole "the veil between the living world and the dead" is a thing that started in Victorian era England. But hey, you can't tell me what to do in my own fic, so I'm keeping that little thing.  
> This chapter is shorter today, so enjoy while it lasts!
> 
> EDIT 24/4/20 Big thanks to blackesparrow, who corrected my "happy Samhain" to something someone who actually celebrates the holiday would say. Thank you!

Harry is used to getting up at six. It gives him plenty time to wake up slowly and get ready for the day in his own time.

It‘s only when he wakes up on Samhain that he realizes that usual breakfast won‘t do for the day. After all, if breakfast starts at eight, that‘s long after sunrise.

He quietly slips out of the room. To his surprise, the common room isn‘t empty, as he was expecting. The prefects are there, organizing breakfast on the long table running along the whole room with a handful of elves, Gorrey among them. Pyrites is the one to notice him first and she frowns slightly, pursing her lips just a bit.

„You‘re up early, Gaunt. Breakfast should be ready in about ten minutes.“ Then she takes in his surprise and frowns some more before she turns towards Farley and Nettle. „You did inform the first years of the house breakfast on Samhain and Beltane in the last week, right?“

„I‘m sure Farley did, as we agreed.“

„When exactly did we agree to that? I thought you told them!“

„I‘ll go wake up the boys, then,“ Harry informs Pyrites and ignores the usual bickering. „I… would prefer not to go bother the girls.“

Pyrites sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

„Thank you, mister Gaunt. Don‘t worry about the girls, I will tell them as soon as we‘re done here. Blessed Samhain.“

„Blessed Samhain, miss Pyrites.“

Theo is already up when Harry comes back to their bedroom. He smiles at him a little hesitantly from his place on the sofa.

„Breakfast is served in the common room. I don‘t know when exactly the sunrise is, but we should have time.“

„Just after quarter past seven. We have time.“

„Enough time to wake and make the two of them eat?“ Harry motions towards Draco and Blaise‘s bed. Theo grimaces.

Draco isn‘t actually that hard to get out of bed. He knows that if he doesn‘t fast, his father won‘t let him participate in the ritual. He isn‘t risking that, but he also isn‘t not going to eat when he has the chance.

Blaise, on the other hand, just waves them away when they try to wake him.

„I‘m not doing any bloody ritual here at Hogwarts, am I?“

Because Blaise isn‘t going home for the holiday. It makes sense. His home is Italy. And even though magical travel is much quicker than the muggle way, it still takes a toll on a wizard. If he went after school today he probably wouldn‘t be up to the ritual anyway.

„Come on. It‘s tradition. You can still do right by your body even if you won‘t participate in the magic.“

Blaise glares at Harry as if he‘s personally offended him somehow. Then he sighs and finally starts getting up.

„My life would be so much easier without you.“

„Yes, but it would also be less interesting.“

Breakfast in the common room is more relaxed than in the Great Hall. People are more free to talk as they wish, but the room is still quieter than the Hall. Harry and his friends are done with eating by seven, but they stay sitting and talking. There‘s no hierarchy in the common room, which means that Daphne sits on the other side of the room, talking to third year girl about something, while Harry himself is talking to Richard Haynes, a fourth year. Nothing big, just a small polite conversation about Samhain in general that turned into talking about runes. Harry‘s tutors started him on runes some and he‘s interested mostly about the practicality of runes – it‘s much easier to sink protective runes into clothes than it is protective charms. Haynes takes runes as an elective and it‘s always good to know who teaches a subject you‘re interested in.

Theo and Draco both are talking to Dawlish, who is the only prefect who agreed to play chess with the two of them. By their animated expression chess is exactly what they‘re talking about. Blaise seems to mostly just listen and occasionally exchange some light insults with a group of fourth year girls. It‘s… relaxing. Comfortable.

Suddenly, a high note sounds around the room and prefect Bole stands up.

„Last five minutes before sunrise. You have two minutes to finish your breakfast. And don‘t forget – fasting means not eating and giving up tea and coffee for the day. Do not forget to drink, though. Water is always allowed.“

Bole sits back down and people finish their breakfast. The meal and the tea and coffee disappear soon after, along with the dishes, but the water stays and so do the people. Harry is invested in the conversation with Haynes, but that soon reaches its natural end and Haynes excuses himself to talk to one of the sixth years about something. Harry takes the time to look around.

With surprise he realizes that professor Vector is present. She‘s going from one group of students to another, checking on everyone. When she notices that Harry isn‘t busy she smiles at him and joins him, sitting down on the chair Haynes was using just a minute ago.

„Good breakfast, mister Gaunt?“

„Yes, thank you. This is… nice.“

Professor Vector smiles once more, relaxes into the chair, and looks around.

„Samhain and Beltane breakfasts and Beltane‘s dinner is the perfect time for inter-house cohesion. We might be a little more structured than what other houses are used to, but we still are family. I trust that you will come back on Monday to find that your friends mister Zabini and miss Bullstrode made a few more… acquaintances in the older years. At least among those few who are staying as well.“

Harry frowns at that.

„Millicent is staying, too?“

„Yes. We don‘t have many students staying, but there are few. She will be alright. Don‘t worry too much, mister Gaunt. And enjoy your little holiday.“

Harry smiles at her, but it‘s still a little distracted. He didn‘t know Millicent is staying in the school for Samhain. He also didn‘t know that he‘s not coming back for school tomorrow, but that is a nice touch and not really a surprise. Millicent‘s parents not taking her away for this most personal holiday, though… that is a surprise.

He doesn‘t have the opportunity to ask about it, though. Millicent talks to second year girls most of the morning and then he has to go pack so he‘s ready to go right after their classes end. And of course, during school hours he has no chance to talk to her. He‘ll just have to do it after he comes back.

***

Harry enjoys Samhain mostly because it means that he can spend the whole afternoon talking to grandpa Sal and grandpa Rick and aunt Helga and aunt Rowena and father not only doesn‘t protest, he joins him. After all, Samhain is the family holiday, where they sit and remember those who are no longer among them.

Which means that his grandparents talk about their children and Helga and Rowena are happy to add their own stories of the six of them, mostly from school. Harry loves hearing about them. Partly because Ruby Gryffindor and Carvel Slytherin inspired him to lot of mischief when he was a child – father isn‘t exactly fond of the two. Partly because lady Dawn Gryffindor inspires awe in him and she‘s exactly the kind of lady he wants to be a lord – ruthless, protective of her family, bringing change to Wizengamot in a rate that her fathers only dreamt of. Of course, lord Marlow Slytherin helped her with that, but he was much more family-oriented than his sister.

Father leaves for twenty minutes to prepare the ritual room in the dungeons. There‘s not that much space under the castle, but it‘s enough for a family ritual room. Along with actual dungeon. After all, both Salazar and Godrick were lords. They were charged with looking after their people. And that included punishing those who deserved it.

He comes back just after sunset. Nodby sends them a simple dinner – just some bread and wine. Fasting is important for the ritual. Samhain is the day (or rather night) when spirits can come to the world – spirits like long dead family members, but also… other spirits. Fasting helps keep the body clean, helps protect the wizard from those other spirits. But at the same time, the ritual requires a lot of strength. Mental and magical, for sure, but you can‘t have those without the body strength. And so it is better to dine, but to do so modestly.

It‘s not like Harry isn‘t allowed wine any other day of the year. Just one glass, sure, but father doesn‘t allow him more than that even on Samhain. Of course, he can drink as much water as he wants.

They dine in the living room, without Rowena and Helga. Even Rick and Sal grow silent, respecting the atmosphere of their holy day.

They eat in silence. Once father is sure they‘re both done he gestures for Harry to follow him.

Harry‘s used to the narrow stone that forms the stairs from the family wing to the ground floor, but even for him the stairs to the dungeon are somewhat darker and much more unfamiliar.

The ritual room is spacious and well lit, with two chandeliers each carrying close to two hundred candles. In the middle of the room there‘s a circle of runes in dark red. Blood runes.

The ban on blood runes for family rituals such as Samhain has been lifted three years ago. Or rather, the law forbidding them was amended so that families are able to guard their mansions with blood magic and are able to use blood runes for rituals.

Not that the ban stopped Harry‘s father from using the blood runes before.

„Are you ready, Harrison?“

Harry grins at his father.

Father sets his hands on Harry‘s shoulders and uses that hold to situate them inside the circle, Harry‘s back against his father‘s chest, the hands still present on Harry‘s shoulders. Harry closes his eyes and concentrates on his mental shields. Soon he feels a comforting presence surround his mind, his father gently supporting Harry‘s own shields as well as providing his own layer of protection. Once that‘s complete Harry feels a light nudge from his father‘s magic.

Slowly, he starts chanting the words father found in the Slytherin grimoire. They‘re in old Gaelic, which means that Harry has to be careful how he pronounces them, because that‘s not a language he actually speaks. At least at the beginning, before the magic starts working.

He feels the weight of his father‘s full attention on him. But father joins his chanting right at the first repeat and he counts it as success.

The way they do the Samhain ritual is meant for children – parents can monitor their chanting and help with the mental shields needed for the first part of the ritual, for the spirits that hijack the ritual. After all this ritual is designed so one can communicate with their ancestors. No need to shield from family.

Of course, the Slytherin family is… different. More difficult.

Firstly, they get to communicate with all the ancestors, not just those able to claim the Slytherin lordship. And the Gaunts are vicious. And of course, first come those who died last. And because Tom‘s grandfather and uncle were much stronger (both in magic and character) than his mother, there‘s no break before the vicious attacks from their own family come.

The communication between living and the dead is not exactly verbal, but those closest in time to their own death come the closest to being verbal. And because the Gaunts date back in their main line for almost six centuries, a lot of the time is spent shielding from the onslaught.

Harry knows that he should have his own ritual circle by now, should have mastered the ritual on his own. The magic in the runes is strong enough that just rudimentary shields around one‘s mind are enough for the ritual. And the intricate magic w eaved into the castle itself shouldn‘t let any spirit without connection to the Slytherin family in anyway. But the Gaunts have connection to the Slytherin family and by the time they come the runes don‘t have enough power left to protect the living.

So yes, Harry still undergoes the ritual as a child would while all his friends already moved to their own circles for Samhain. But it‘s worth it. Because eventually, kinder, excited voices can be heard. And in the end, a shiny presence forces the Gaunts to flee.

Then and only then father lets the protection around Harry‘s mind fall. And that‘s the sign for Harry to do the same.

Salazar and his closest descendants are completely nonverbal already, but that just makes the transfer of emotion more intense.

Love. Acceptance. Belonging.

Harry pushes the memory of his sorting on them and feels their giddiness and excitement and pride intensify. He basks in the approval of his family.

Soon everything turns into just… feelings. Harry no longer senses his body. Instead he lets himself get lost in the familiar feeling of… well, not people, but magics around him. They were familiar the first time he did this and by now the simple act of belonging brings him joy that only his family is able to give him.

Too soon, the energy starts draining and the individual flavours of magic start disappearing. Harry has to remind himself that he will see them next year and that they‘re not the only family he has to not cling to them. Samhain feelings are always almost too intense.

As the magic gives up completely he wavers and if it wasn‘t for his father he would fall. He looks up and sheepishly smiles at his father. For once, Tom smiles openly at his son with fondness in his eyes clearly visible.

„The night is still young. Maybe we‘ll be able to persuade Godrick to tell us about his parents. And with any chance Salazar will even tell us how he met Merlin.“

The exhaustion Harry was just starting to feel disappears as he looks up at his father with stars in his eyes. Even though he‘s been allowed to participate in the ritual, it‘s always been a quick dinner and bed right after for him, even though the holiday Samhain lasts until the sunrise of November 1st. Tom smiles at him.

„You‘re a Hogwarts student now, it‘s time you take on more of the responsibilities. You‘re not expected back at Hogwarts for three more days, but that won‘t always be the case.“

„Yes, father.“

***

Trying to get his sleeping regime right after that is hard. He‘s forcefully waken on Friday in the early afternoon and he does not like it. Saturday is better, but he also spends the whole morning and a better part of afternoon alone, because father has Wizengamot session. He spends it finishing his schoolwork and packing his old essays for recycling purposes.

Father comes back with uncle Corvinus and uncle Emory and Harry is happy to spend some time with them, even though the three of them discuss Wizengamot while Harry reads his Seeker Weekly.

Not even an hour after the three lords arrive the fire turns green again. Harry, surprised by that, scoots back on the carpet to let the newcomer through. Only a handful of people are keyed to the wards so they can come through in the family wing. All of them usually let father know in advance that they‘re coming.

A ruffled Rabastan steps out of the fireplace. His face is a mask, but the unusually pale girl with tear tracks on her face that‘s shaking in his arms is very telling.

The relaxed atmosphere in the room shatters in the blink of an eye.

„What happened?“

Rabastan ignores his father for the moment, instead turning to Tom.

„I‘m sorry for the intrusion, Tom, but the Lestrange Manor was empty and I didn‘t know where else to go.“

Rodolphus and his wife Irene are spending the winter in their house in France. Irene had a nasty miscarriage and the healers thought that the change of scenery could do both of them some good.

„It‘s fine. Come sit down. Would you like some tea? Some biscuits, perhaps?“

Tom eyes Rose nervously. He hardly knows how to act around her when she isn‘t this visibly distressed. He has no idea what to do now.

Rabastan sits between Emory and Corvinus. Tom notices the way he leans into his father. Harry, still on the floor (and why the boy prefers the floor to the sofa Tom will never understand), leans into Rabastan‘s legs, looking up to see Rose. Not really subtle, but doing it in such a nonchalant way that no one would comment on it even if they weren‘t worried about Rabastan.

„Tea, yes. Thank you.“

Tom nods and with a simple thought and a push of magic he sends the request to Nodby.

„Now, will you tell us what happened?“

The total silence that follows for a moment is deafening.

„I don‘t know.“ Rabastan looks carefully down at his daughter, but her tear stricken face is buried into his neck. Her dark blonde hair is in knots and her little hands hang tight to Rabastan, like he‘s all that‘s keeping her alive. „We haven‘t seen her yesterday, Barty and I were sleeping off Samhain night. She seemed fine in the morning. A little more closed off than is usual nowadays, but she does have bad days. The witch from the department for adoption said that‘s completely normal.“

„Rabastan.“

„Right. Sorry.“ Rabastan runs a nervous hand through his daughter‘s hair. „It went to hell the moment Barty and his father came back from Wizengamot. She instantly became tense, dropped the doll we were playing with, and became silent. Crouch frowned at her, chastising her for not greeting him properly. When she tried to do so and failed to do it in the proper, traditional way, he started to call her names. Which I wasn‘t just going to stand around for that. We fought and Rosie… doesn‘t take that well.“

The tension between lord Crouch and the rest of his family has been growing ever since lady Crouch died. It‘s no secret that the only reason lord Crouch agreed with the bonding between his heir and a Lestrange was because the dying lady blessed their relationship and wanted to see the ceremony before her death.

Lord Crouch does not approve of his heir‘s spouse, their close relationship with said spouse‘s family, and certainly not the adoption. The only reason why he didn‘t disinherit his son yet is because legally, he can‘t unless Barty commits a criminal offense. That, and the fact that majority of Britain‘s wizarding population adores Barty.

Corvinus gently places his arm around his son‘s shoulders and squeezes. Tom sighs and leans closer from his place in the armchair.

„And I assume Barty is still arguing with his father.“

For their calm facades in public both Crouches tend to be rather temperamental with each other.

Rabastan pulls Rose close to himself.

„I‘d guess so, yes.“

***

Slowly, carefully, with promises of tea and biscuits, they manage to separate Rose from Rabastan. She stays closeby, but is lured by their promises enough to slip off of Rabastan‘s lap. Emory tries to make her laugh with a small charm that shoots ribbons out of a wand. Rose remains unimpressed, but Harry wants to learn the charm at once.

Barty arrives not long after. First thing he does is hug Rose, hard and strong, muttering something softly to her. Rose looks uncomfortable at first, but soon enough melts into it.

Harry learns a number of small charms similar to the one with the ribbon – the one that sprays glitter around makes him excited for the next round of their little war with the Weasley twins. All in all, his weekend is better for the inclusion of the young Crouch family. He knows that there‘s some problem with Barty‘s father, but Harry is entirely confident that whatever it is, their family can deal with it.


	11. Samhain, sorry, Halloween feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry comes back to school to learn what happened over the weekend.  
> Also, Gryffindor versus Slytherin is fun, especially on quidditch pitch.

When Harry comes back to school on Monday for the first class (he‘s not going to eat breakfast in the Great Hall when he can get one with his father) the school is buzzing while the Gryffindors are subdued. He notices the first immediately during their class with Ravenclaws and the second is easy to notice in their second class with Gryffindors – they‘re not chatting and whispering and moving all the time as they usually do. And Granger is missing.

„Alright, what the hell happened here?“

That‘s Pansy, demanding an answer from Blaise as they‘re climbing up the stairs. Blaise rolls his eyes and simply shakes his head. Fair enough, Pansy is breathing too hard from saying just that one sentence. Running all around the castle to be on time for all their classes is no joke. The older years are more used to it, but most people still save their conversation for the times when they are not hurrying so they‘re not late.

„Lunch,“ is all he says in answer. So of course, the moment they sit down for lunch Pansy turns her expecting eyes to him. Blaise doesn‘t react in any way, simply serves himself some meat and potatoes. Pansy sighs.

„Don‘t make me beg, Blaise. What happened here?“

With that question Daphne jerks just a bit and moves a little so she can better hear Blaise‘s answer. Harry notices, but dismisses it to pay close attention to the answer himself. Blaise just smirks at Pansy.

„It‘s quite the story. I‘m surprised you haven‘t heard it yet. During the Samhain, sorry, Halloween feast professor Quirrell barged into the hall, informing us all that there‘s troll in the dungeon before swiftly fainting.“ Blaise accompanies the retelling with subtle, but on-point gestures. There‘s no way he hasn‘t rehearsed this retelling. „Panic ensued until Dumbledore stood up and ordered the prefects to lead everyone to their common room.“

„Wait, didn‘t you say that the troll was in the dungeon?“

Blaise smirks.

„Yes, I did say that.“

Harry fumes, but stops himself from glancing at Dumbledore when most of their little group does so. The last thing he wants to do is see Dumbledore right then.

„Not like we were going to listen. Higgs actually looked ready to go kill the troll herself before she‘d let any of us anywhere near the thing. And because neither she nor Dawlish moved, we weren‘t going to do so, obviously. But before she or even Vector could raise their concerns it was one of the sixth year Hufflepuffs who argued back. After all, Hufflepuffs would have to go in the same direction as us, at least for a while.“

„So what, you all stayed in the Great Hall before the troll was dealt with? How did it even get into the castle?“

„Oh no, that‘s not the end of the story. You see, by the time the Hufflepuff spoke up half of the Gryffindor table was out of the hall and most of the Ravenclaws that stayed were also on their way out. And the teachers were supposed to go deal with the troll, so they were also halfway out of the hall. It went a little chaotic after that, but in the end the Hufflepuffs and us stayed along with professor Sprout and professor Vector. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were deemed safe in their towers and the rest of the professors hurried to the dungeon. But of course, the troll wasn‘t in the dungeon, but on the second floor.“

Harry stares at Blaise for a long moment. Trolls are slow creatures. They‘re usually not malicious, but they‘re also territorial and easily scared into attacking. Even if the fighting amongst the professors took twenty minutes (which Harry is sure it didn‘t), the troll shouldn‘t have made it from the dungeon to the second floor. What more – if it was on second floor it meant that Hufflepuffs and Slytherins would be safe to go to their common rooms, but not Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. In the exact opposite way of what they prepared for. Blaise grins at their stares.

„That‘s not the best part. Apparently, Potter thought that his image of a hero actually makes him a hero, because he and his sidekick Weasley decided to go after the troll. Well, the official story the professors told us is that Granger was in danger and so the two idiots decided to go save her, but Finch-Fletchley said that he overheard Weasley insulting her after their charms class and Longbottom said that no one saw her since that class, so I assume that Granger just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, the Weasley prefect noticed his brother missing and immediately contacted professor Longbottom. She brought down her wrath on the troll. Well, professor McGonagall and one of the history professors for older years came with her, but according to the gossip mill Longbottom single-handedly defeated the troll, ushered all three of her students into the hospital wing, and then proceeded to yell at the two who were still conscious. When James Potter made it into the hospital wing and tried to defend his son, she lit into him too.“

Harry blinks some when Blaise triumphantly finishes his story. Harry looks around and sees the same expression of disbelief on their faces as he‘s sure is on his own. It‘s not exactly as subtle as he‘d wish, and the moment he sees it on their faces he quickly schools his own.

„Potter and Weasley seemed fine in the class.“

„Few broken bones and some bruises, nothing a mediwitch can‘t take care of. Granger, on the other hand… nothing from the professors, of course, other than that she will be fine, but madam Pomfrey teaches an elective in last two years, Introduction to healing. Some older years Ravenclaws went asking and she was happy enough to rant. Apparently, the troll got a solid swing with his club that landed on Granger‘s head. She should be okay, but she was placed in magical healing coma for now.“

„And?“

Blaise shrugs.

„That‘s it. Madam Pomfrey‘s estimate for now is that she‘ll be able to wake her on Saturday. She should make full recovery.“

Suddenly, there‘s a fire in the middle of the Ravenclaw table. It‘s quickly stopped, but it makes enough of commotion that professor Flitwick hurries to his students. Blaise smirks.

„Did you know that fire apparently kills trolls rather effectively?“

Harry grins at that. He never really thought about learning the spell for fire charm. Lighting a fire at the Slytherin castle is easy for him, because the magic there is tuned to his magic. But learning it now is a good idea.

„Time to check out the rooms available to students on the first floor. Do you think Finch-Fletchley would want to join us?“

„We can ask him. Let‘s visit our Fluffly friend first, though.“

***

Fluffy is excited to see them. Finch-Fletchley, not so much. When he sees them in the library he straightens so he stands taller, says goodbye to his Hufflepuff classmates, and marches to them.

„Oh, right,“ Blaise says as if he‘s just remembering. „Finch-Fletchley thinks it was a Slytherin effort to let the troll in.“

Before Harry can react to that, Finch-Fletchley is right next to them, his usual politeness gone.

„Did any of you do it?“ When they don‘t reply at once Finch-Fletchley frowns even harder and continues. „You said it yourself – Granger was drawing Slytherin wrath to her. And the two months protection period just ended. Did any of you Slytherins do it?“

„Are you mad?“

Valid question, but Pansy could start by answering his question instead of basically accusing him at once.

„No we didn‘t,“ answers Harry quickly. „First, that all happened on Samhain, right? That‘s still during the two months. Last day, granted, but still covered. Plus, no Slytherin would tarnish our holy day by such small thing as an annoying mudblood. Besides, displeasure over one‘s refusal to assimilate to our culture is always targeted. Letting a troll in a school that, by the way, we also attend? That‘s not only not our style, it‘s outright stupid. Not only letting a troll in doesn‘t guarantee that he will attack the right person, it also doesn‘t guarantee that he won‘t attack the wrong people. Only an imbecile would do that.“

Finch-Fletchley deflatesand palms his face with a sigh. He also sags into a chair. Harry raises his eyebrows when he sees it. Rude.

„Yeah. That… that makes sense.“

Harry watches him for another while. Finch-Fletchley looks… relieved. Huh. Harry looks towards his friends. They are still angry, but the way they watch Finch-Fletchley is thoughtful. Draco looks at Harry, but it‘s Pansy who speaks up.

„Let me guess,“ she drags out, dry as a desert. „Some of your housemates are convinced that Granger‘s condition is fault of a few Slytherins deciding they don‘t want another mudblood straining the halls of Hogwarts.“

„Not in those words, exactly, but… yeah.“ Finch-Fletchley winces and quickly gets back up on his feet. „I‘m sorry, that was… uncalled for. I‘ll just… have to rethink who I want to be friends with, I guess.“

„That‘s the smartest thing you‘ve said since I‘ve known you.“ Finch-Fletchley bristles some, but Draco is actually extending an olive branch and Harry knows it. „Macmillan is a jerk and his heir of a brother is not much better. Sure, their family is Wizengamot family, but he‘s hardly worth the hassle.“

Finch-Fletchley actually rolls his eyes.

„Family in Wizengamot is not really a valid reason for friendship, you know?“

„Of course it is,“ Pansy raises her head so her nose is up a bit, a small smirk playing on her lips. „Why do you think the three of us are such good friends?“

„Because for some reason, Tom thinks you‘re cute.“

„Well, I am. And you‘re just bitter, because he knows what a spoiled brat you are.“

„Yeah. So good friends you are.“ Harry smirks at Finch-Fletchley. Smart, ready to assimilate, and sarcastic. Harry really can choose who to befriend. „Anyway. I‘m sorry for… that. I shouldn‘t have just… barge in like that. I‘ll stop bothering you now.“

Harry quickly glances to his friends, realizing only now that Theo is gone. He doesn‘t have the time to think about when that happened, though, because Finch-Fletchley is already turning around to leave.

„We were going to hit one of the classrooms on the first floor open for extra studying for everyone, would you be interested in that? We were going to learn the fire charm. And, well, I learned some pretty flashy charms over the weekend.“

Finch-Fletchley stops and slowly turns to face them again, face open so the hope in it is easily readable.

„That sounds pretty interesting. Everyone in Hufflepuff insists that we shouldn‘t actually cast any spells outside classroom, that it‘s forbidden.“

„Technically, they‘re right. It‘s not exactly a rule that‘s strictly followed, but casting in corridors is forbidden. However, that‘s why the classrooms on the first floor are there. So we can practice. You coming or not?“

They‘re packed fairly quickly and Finch-Fletchley starts a tentative conversation with Pansy about the technicality of the rule about not casting outside of classrooms. As they‘re leaving the library Harry leans slightly to Blaise and asks: „When did Theo leave?“

„In the middle of your explanation of why it weren‘t Slytherins who let the troll in. He‘s…,“ Blaise lets the sentence die and frowns hard. „Did he tell you how his Samhain was? I asked, but he just mumbled something and withdrew.“

„No. Actually, I don‘t think I‘ve heard him say something the whole day.“ Harry frowns, contemplating. „Should we… do something? Press him? Go to the prefects?“

Blaise is frowning just as hard as Harry.

„Give him few days. If he‘s not better by Wednesday, we go to the prefects.“

Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, Harry is excited to try some practical learning with just his friends. He can‘t believe that they‘ve been at Hogwarts for two months and haven‘t done anything like this before.

***

Theo doesn‘t get better.

Wednesday night Vector chooses to spend few hours in the common room. She talks and laughs softly with older years. Harry is tense as he watches her, waiting for a moment when she‘ll be alone. He doesn‘t want to pull anyone‘s attention to Theo.

When the moment presents itself he gestures to Draco, gets up, and quickly moves to Vector.

„I‘m sorry, professor, may we talk?“

Her smile quickly falls when she sees their serious faces.

„What is it, mister Gaunt?“

„It‘s Theo Nott. He‘s...“ Harry and Draco exchange a somewhat awkward glance.

„He started getting better with us, more open. But since we came back on Monday it‘s… at least as bad as it was at the beginning of the year.“

„We‘re worried about him.“ It‘s hard to say to someone he doesn‘t really know, but Vector is paid to care for them, isn‘t she? At least that‘s what father told him. To not hesitate to go to her if he‘s worried about a fellow Slytherin.

Thoughtfully, Vector nods. Her eyes roam the room, but Theo is not there. Harry knows. Theo has been spending a lot of time curled in his corner of the sofa lately. At least Harry thinks so because every time they are in the room with him he hides in his bed.

„Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Are you looking forward to our first quidditch game this year?“

Both Harry and Draco immediately brighten up. The following weekend is the first quidditch match in the little school league. Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Should be fun.

And it is. They still go running in the morning, but for once it‘s just that, not followed by Marcus‘ unusually cruel training regime. The rest of the team needs to keep their strength for the match. They still get breakfast together and then, not even an hour later, all meet in the hot bathtub in their bathroom. Harry is long over his shyness when it comes to being naked around the team.

„So, how do you think this will go?“ he asks Terence Higgs while ignoring Draco being mercilessly teased by Bole, Derrick, and Bletchley. Not that Draco isn‘t giving back same as he gets. Marcus, Montague, and Warrington are going over their plans for the game and Pucey is somewhat involved, too, altough Harry notices that he still seems to keep tab on his conversation with Higgs.

Higgs shrugs.

„Could go either way. Their chasers are really good and they have the best keeper in Hogwarts. Of course, Marcus has this way of getting under his skin, so we‘re usually able to score more on him than Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw combined. Weasley twins are nasty as beaters, but that just makes the game more fun. The real game will be between me and whoever their new seeker is.“

„I heard it‘s some seventh year, so you probably know him.“

Higgs makes a face at that and groans.

„Oh, for Merlin‘s sake. It‘s that ass, Alas, isn‘t it? He‘s been going on about what an awful seeker I am. Like sure, I‘m no Charlie Weasley, but come on.“

Draco snorts at that.

„Come on, he‘s a Weasley. How good can he be?“

Most of the quidditch team rolls their eyes and Marcus even leans over Bole and Derrick to pull Draco under the water completely. Draco quickly goes back up, spitting water.

„Look, we all know and respect your feud with the Weasleys. But you haven‘t seen them play yet. They‘re good.“

Draco glares at Marcus, but doesn‘t protest. He knows that Marcus doesn‘t give compliments about one‘s game that easily.

„Besides,“ adds Warrington with a smirk, „everyone playing or even liking quidditch in this school had a crush on Charlie Weasley. It‘s like a law.“

„Yeah. I mean, I‘m straight, but if he asked? I‘d definitely suck his dick.“

Harry and Draco both make a face at that and the players laugh at them.

***

The quidditch game is exciting.

Of course, the game itself is not on the same level as the world cup has been this summer or even the professional league Britain has, but it‘s fun. Spinnet, Johnson, and Bell are good, but the Slytherin chasers have better strategy and, well, are more willing to test Madam Hooch about how closely she‘s observing the rules. Gryffindors in the stands (including Jordan, who‘s commenting the game – seriously, can‘t the professors chose someone unbiased?) are not happy about it, but hey, it‘s just a game. If you‘re not pushing for advantage you‘re not trying hard enough.

Wood is a great keeper. Harry is sure that he‘s more successful keeping his loops than Bletchley is, but Slytherins have many more chances, so they are leading for most of the game. There‘s few songs that the Slytherin stands favor throughout the whole game that seem to drive the Gryffindor stands crazy. Curiously, their team is much more level-headed, focused on the game itself instead of the jeering from the stands.

Weasley twins are inventive with their games, but Harry knows that Marcus spent at least half of their flying practices in the last two weeks focusing on their game, so the chasers usually manage to duck just in time so the bludger misses them. Not always, but it helps.

And of course, at the end, it all comes down to the seekers. No surprise there, most of games are in the end decided by seekers. In the league it gets more interesting the further into the season it is, because it‘s not win-lose games that count, but the difference between points gained and points scored against. So if you want to get into a play-off spot in late March and you need to gain another 500 points, it‘s not enough to win a game. You have to win it by 500 points. Now, that‘s a challenge.

Either way, seekers.

Higgs and Alas (yes, Higgs got that right) spend most of the game high above the players, looking out for a snitch. Three times there‘s an excitement about the two of them. First Alas tries a faint, but Higgs doesn‘t fall for it. Second time, Higgs leads Alas on a chase just to stop in the middle of movement and grin widely at the other seeker. Harry can see Alas cursing when he looks at him through his binoculars. Fun. Third time Alas actually catches a sight of the snitch when Higgs is on the other end of the field. A well-placed bludger takes care of that, though.

In the end, it‘s a tight race everyone watches to the point that Marcus and Wood get into a small fight over at Gryffindor‘s loops, but almost no one notices because even the players are watching the chase.

In the end, Higgs raises his clenched fist with small wings just barely peaking through. The Slytherin‘s stands explode in cheers. Harry is right there with everyone, having the time of his life.

Turns out, when Slytherin wins a quidditch game, the curfew is… postponed. Harry doesn‘t know how or when or even who was the person who got butterbeers and even some firewhisky for the party. But he knows that the moment a second year gets his hand on some firewhisky there‘s two seventh years and prefect Dawlish on him. Say what you want about the carelessness of the older students drinking in font of them, but they are not letting them anywhere near the real alcohol.

Not that Harry tries to get it. He‘s happy with his butterbeer and some pudding, thank you very much.

They‘re ushered off to their beds at ten. With the party in the full swing. But still, they got an hour out of the win. Harry will take it.

On Sunday Blaise agrees to go with them to visit Fluffy. Fluffy gets defensive and even though he eventually lets Draco and Harry and Pansy pet him, he doesn‘t allow Blaise anywhere near himself. Blaise is not really bothered about that. He agreed to come with them mostly just because Theo was still not talking to them and they wanted to come again. So they left quicker than what they planned, but that let them get some more time out. They mostly just walk around and argue about their charms essay, but Harry missed the fresh air.

On Monday, Theo is called into the infirmary and spends two hours there. Harry doesn‘t see him at all until dinner. He still doesn‘t look that good and still keeps to himself, careful not to touch anyone, but he doesn‘t look worse, so he decides to let it go.

Monday is also the day Granger joins them back for school. She‘s much quieter than before and Harry notices that she struggles with the few words she does say during their shared potions class. Draco snickers at it and Harry glares. Sure, Granger isn‘t exactly polite, but head wounds are dangerous and nothing to laugh at.

When they visit Fluffy on Tuesday, the dog actually moves enough to clear their way to the trap door. All three of them freeze (until one of Fluffy‘s head butts into Draco so he‘ll scratch it again) and stare at the door for a moment.

„So… Shall we… go on now?“

Part of Harry wants to, but he knows it‘s not a good idea. Sure, they managed to befriend Fluffy and he doesn‘t think he‘ll protest much if they go on. But they don‘t know what awaits them over there. Sure, Fluffy could be the only added protection, but somehow Harry doubts it.

There‘s a beat of silence before Draco speaks up.

„I‘d feel better with a book of protective charms on me.“

„And maybe some potions. Just in case.“

„And we‘re expected in the library in twenty minutes.“

„That‘s settled, then. We get some potions and the books we‘ll think will be helpful and come back. Saturday sounds good, no? If we come here after breakfast we‘ll have plenty time to explore.“


	12. Ladies first?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beyond the trapdoor. How does our trio handle the traps waiting for the golden trio?

They find a book full of protective and healing charms in the Slytherin library. It‘s not just protection, though, and Harry is glad for it. They don‘t know what‘s beyond that door and the best defense is a good offense.

The book is quite heavy, so they decide to take their bags with them. Pansy carries the book of charms while Harry has the rest of the books on him – mostly on jinxes and hexes, but they also take a transfiguration book. It‘s way beyond their current level, but once again, they don‘t know what waits for them beyond the trap door. And magic is about necessity. If they‘ll need it, maybe one of them will be able to cast it.

Draco carries potions in his bag. They each have a little box with basic potion kit – potions to help you when you feel under the weather or when an accident happens and you‘re injured. They raid all of their kits to put together one complete. They hope that they won‘t need to use anything, but if they do it‘s easier for each of them to ask their parents to replace some of it instead of just one of them asking to replace all of it. Less suspicious that way.

Blaise helps with the preparations. They ask Theo about his opinions and his answers are soft and hesitant and soon after he goes back to his bed and closes the drapes around it. But at least he talks to them again now.

Of course, Saturday morning isn‘t really on their schedule for visits with Fluffy. And when they carefully look around the corner and find prefect Weasley, they‘re not really surprised, but still disappointed.

They settle in one of the abandoned classrooms in the east wing, settling for checking every twenty minutes who‘s on the lookout. Thanks to their stakeout the first few weeks they got pretty good about sneaking around, so they‘re not worried about getting caught. Not much anyway.

After fourty minutes Farley is there in Weasley‘s place. Their spirit goes down after that. There‘s no way they‘d try to sneak in when a Slytherin is on the lookout. They‘d try their chance with Gryffindors (other than Weasley and Hardcastle, the seventh year girl prefect), but a Slytherin? No way.

Thankfully Pansy had the foresight to pack a deck of Snaps, so they pass the time this way. They don‘t bother to check the corridor for another hour and when they do, Farley is still there and looking furious. They quickly and quietly run back to their hideout.

When they go back thirty minutes later Farley is gone and one of the classrooms is occupied. When they cautiously glance in there‘s a seventh year Hufflepuff working on something that‘s probably homework. Finally they‘re able to sneak in.

Fluffy is happy to see them, even though his room is obviously freshly cleaned and there‘s both fresh meal and clean water in his bowls. But the three of them are probably the only human contact the poor dog has so it‘s understandable.

Sure, Cerberuses were breed to guard property, but they‘re still pack animals. They need contact with someone other than themselves.

It‘s not hard to move Fluffy. The dog listens to them happily and moves without a sound once he understands what they want him to do. He even stays that way when they open the trap door and crouch around it to see in.

When he‘s staring into the black void the door seems to lead to some of the excitement leaves Harry. They have no idea what follows. They‘re a small group of eleven year old children whose magic is still developing. This might be the stupidest thing he‘s done yet.

„Ladies first?“ he tries jokingly. Pansy doesn‘t even look to him as she punches him. Painfully. Harry hisses. „Alright, alright. It was my idea, I go first. Just close after yourself, will you? The last thing we need is a routine check up turning wrong.“

With that he jumps. The fall is broken rather quickly and basically painlessly. It‘s not exactly a soft landing, but nothing hurts from it, so Harry takes it as a win.

Soon there‘s another body landing next to him and then the light above shuts closed. Only then Harry realizes that whatever he landed on is moving. Worse, it‘s trapping him!

He tries to free himself but that only leads to the plant moving faster. Somewhere to his left Draco grunts.

„Stop moving, you two! Don‘t you recognize it?“

Of course it‘s only after Pansy reprimands them that Harry realizes that he‘s sitting in Devil‘s snare’s nest. Nasty, but not particularly dangerous.

By the time he manages to pull out his wand Pansy‘s fire is happily eating part of the plant. Harry‘s own hardly joins hers when it drops them to the floor just bellow.

It‘s still rather dark there, but some light comes from one side. Thanks to that Harry can see that while Pansy is calm and collected as always, Draco is rather white (well, whiter than usual) and his breathing is erratic. Harry smirks.

„Don‘t tell me you were scared, Draco.“

„Shut up, Gaunt.“

„As if you were any better. Honestly, boys, what would you do without me?“

Harry would love to argue with her that he‘d be fine, thank you very much, but… he did kind of panic there. For a moment. So this time he lets it go with just a small frown sent in Pansy‘s direction.

They head out the only way they‘re able to – towards the light. They go slow, Harry first, Pansy and Draco on each side of him not even a step behind. Harry stops for a moment when he hears something – it‘s soft and barely there, but there‘s a sound almost like buzzing. He glances towards each of his friends quickly and both of them nod mutely.

They go really slow and take care to be completely quiet. Thankfully, the hall isn‘t that long.

The room they come to is brightly lit and full of something that looks like sparkly butterflies, fluttering around the spacious room. But when Harry concentrates on one butterfly, he quickly realizes that it‘s in fact a key. A gold key, with almost see-through wings.

„Wanna bet that only one of these will open the door?“

Because the opposite wall has a door, slightly to the left from where they‘re standing.

„No bet,“ Pansy and Draco chorus at once.

„But someone should still check the door, make sure that simple Alohomora won‘t do the trick.“

„Are you offering to run through the keys yourself, Pansy dear?“

Harry smirks when Pansy‘s light stinging hex actually lands on Draco. They‘ve been practicing that one for months now, but they‘re usually not that good in controlling the strength of the hex. They either don‘t do much or hurt for hours and they somehow can‘t figure out how to make it right. Apparently, Pansy just did.

„I‘ll go. You two have your wands ready. If I die, it will be up to you to explain it to father.“

The slight threat works, Draco and Pansy both shut up. Harry straightens and…

Walks freely through the room up to the door. In fact, the keys seem to hurry as far away from him as possible.

By the time he tries every unlocking charm he knows (including Alohomora) Pansy and Draco join him.

„Have the brooms always been there?“

Harry turns towards where Pansy is pointing and sure enough, in the shadow by the wall there‘s three brooms. A little impressive, but mostly creepy.

„Well,“ he turns towards Draco, „time to show off, seeker.“

„Why me?“ Harry gives him an unimpressed look. Draco rolls his eyes. „I don‘t even know what I‘m looking for.“

„Silver key, probably bigger than the rest,“ Pansy points to the lock on the door. „None of the gold keys would fit in.“

„What if the brooms are cursed?“

„Why would they be cursed?“

„The goal is to make reaching the finish as hard as possible, right? What if the keys attack me the moment I touch the broom? What if the brooms are actually portkeys?“

„Ugh, you boys are such cowards.“

With that Pansy touches one of the brooms. Then she basically throws it at Draco.

„See? Now get on it, seeker boy, we don‘t have all day.“

„And here I was thinking that this is exactly the reason why we cleaned today‘s schedule.“

Before Pansy can snark back Draco is on the broom, flying above them. The keys scatter to be as far away from him as possible. It makes sense – they don‘t want to make the goal of catching one particular key too easy.

„Brat,“ Pansy still mutters, even though Harry can see that Draco is focused on his task. Harry rolls his eyes.

„As if you‘re any better.“

Draco sees the key soon enough, but catching it is another matter entirely.

„You know, you could help,“ Draco drags through his teeth when he crashes into a wall for the third time. Pansy snorts.

„Some seeker you are.“

„Quidditch isn‘t usually played in closed rooms, so excuse me for not being used to that.“

Pansy snickers, but Harry nudges her and they both get up. They help him trap the key. With Harry above Draco and Pansy bellow him the key can‘t really move anywhere they wouldn‘t catch it. Pansy is not happy about flying quidditch style, but it‘s just the three of them there so she doesn‘t really mind.

Beyond the locked door is more darkness. Until they shut the door behind them and step in properly. Then the fires flame and show a chess set so big its figures are taller than grown men. Black set close to them, white set further away. There‘s another door behind the white set.

„You think they‘ll let us just… walk through?“

„Somehow I doubt it.“

They still try it. The room itself is one big chessboard so there‘s no way around and they have to cross it. They‘re not even halfway through when the white pawns unleash their swords, effectively blocking the trio‘s path.

Pansy frowns.

„I don‘t like this.“

„Of course you don‘t. You‘re pants at chess.“

Draco, to Harry‘s annoyance, is grinning widely.

They move back to the door to wait for the game to start. Whites always start in chess, right? But for the longest time nothing happens. Then, the black king moves his head to stare at the three of them. Draco freezes.

„I think… I think we need to be part of the game.“

Draco is much less enthusiastic after that. After a moment of silence he tells Harry to take the place of right bishop while Pansy is directed to replace one of the pawns slightly to the left. Pansy glares at him and Harry would swear Draco did it just to spite her, but… well. Draco seems to take this seriously. Draco himself takes the place of a knight.

„Try not to kill us in the process, would you?“

The game lasts forever. Or maybe that‘s just Harry‘s feeling. While the white side moves rather quickly, Draco always takes time to think about his decision. Harry is bored soon. It doesn‘t help that he‘s sure that there are layers and strategies at play there he doesn‘t even see.

Once Pansy‘s face goes white when she realizes that in the next move she could be obliterated and the same happens to Harry twice. But Draco always comes to the rescue.

Their side ends the game with just the three of them, the king, and a castle. But Draco still manages to win.

„I changed my mind,“ Draco mutters on their now free way to the door. He‘s even paler than after the Devil‘s snare. „That was not fun.“

The next room is empty, but as they cross it there‘s an unpleasant lingering odor. Pansy even covers her nose with her sleeve. But the room stays empty and the door opens easily.

„That‘s… strange.“

„Let‘s not complain about a bit of luck, shall we?“

Of course, as soon as they‘re three steps in the next room fires start up so both the door behind them and in front of them are guarded. Not ordinary fire, though, not this time – the one behind them is purple, the one in front of them is black. And in between there‘s a table with some vials.

„You were saying about luck?“

„I warned you. You jinxed it.“

They cautiously approach the table. They find the riddle easily enough and groan as they read through it.

„This has to be uncle Sev‘s fault.“

„Great, you deal with it, then. It‘s your godfather after all.“

„Do you think he really put poison into some of those?“

Draco crunches his nose and shrugs.

„Depends on how much he wants to guard… whatever is hidden here. And how probable he finds students making it this far. Considering how easy it‘s been so far I‘d say that whatever he put in won‘t kill you but will make your life miserable. At least for some time.“

„Great. Either way, we don‘t want to drink that.“

They pull up some papers and pencils (yes, the official documents, including essays, are written on scrolls with quills, but they know paper and pencil are easier) and start solving the puzzle.

Harry thinks he‘s starting to get it when Draco gleefully exclaims:

„I‘ve got it.“

„I hate you,“ Pansy grumbles before pointing at one vial. „This one will get us through.“

„Yes, but which one will get us back?“

„Who cares?“

„Us, once we make it through, I assume. Harry!“

Of course, Harry used their bickering to get the vial and move towards the black fire. Now he just smiles wickedly at Draco.

„See you when I get whatever it is Dumbledore‘s hiding here.“

With that he drinks whatever is in the vial and walks right through the fire and the door beyond it.

There‘s not another door. Just descending stairs and at their end, in the middle of the free space there, is a pedestal. And on that…

„All that for a rock?“

Harry is not proud to say that he jumps a little in surprise. Pansy smirks at him.

„The vial reappeared, full again, once you walked through that door. I‘m quicker than Draco.“

„You punched me in the stomach to be quicker than me!“

„Same difference.“

They make the way down the stairs slowly and circle the stone.

„It kinda looks like raw ruby.“

„But why would ruby need extra protection? They‘re not that rare. And as a gemstone it‘s hardly worth anything.“

„Better yet – why not simply hide it at Gringotts? This is just asking for it to be stolen.“

„Well, there was a robbery at Gringotts this summer.“ Draco and Harry both look away from the stone and instead look at Pansy. She frowns. „What? It‘s true. The Prophet might be propaganda, but sometimes it stumbles across the truth.“

„Okay, but didn‘t the owner of the vault empty it just before that?“

„Still, someone managed to sneak in without being caught. Plus, if the owner emptied it just that day, perhaps they were expecting that someone would rob them.“

„And now you‘ll tell us this is what the robber was after.“

„Well, it could – Harry!“

„What?“

Of course, Harry once again used their bickering to do what he wants to do. This time he took the stone. It‘s not entirely raw, Harry notes when he runs his thumb over an edge.

Draco curses softly and Pansy sets her hands on her hips in slightly threatening manner. Not that it scares Harry.

„It could have been cursed! What were you thinking?“

Harry just grins at her and slips the stone into the pocket of his trousers.

„But it wasn‘t. Come on, let’s go back, I‘m hungry.“

The way back is comparatively easy. Draco already knows which potion to drink to get through the purple fire and the chess set leaves them to go back without a problem. In the room with the flying keys Pansy goes straight to the brooms.

„What? Do you two have better idea how to reach the top door?“

Their practice with fire pays off when they‘re able to shun the Devil‘s snare to one corner so they can simply fly by. At first they‘re unable to open the door but then Draco raises his voice so Fluffy can hear him through the door and they‘re back in Fluffy‘s room sooner than expected. It was much easier than getting to the stone.

Of course, it‘s when they carefully open the door to the hall when they find themselves in trouble. Because in the hall with his back to them stands prefect Bole.

„Oh no. We‘re trapped here!“ Pansy whisper-shouts at them, eyes wide. And of course she panics just now. „How are we going to get out of here?“

„We wait him out.“ There‘s no way Harry is panicking now. „They have ninety minutes long watches, right? So that means,“ he casts a quick Tempus before his face falls, „that it‘s Gryffindor‘s turn and it started ten minutes ago.“

„Bloody Gryffindors,“ mutters Draco. „One can‘t count on them to adhere even to the prefect schedule.“

„Wait. I got it.“

Harry calls Woopy. She‘s not happy to see him in one small room with a Cerberus, but when Harry asks her to apparate them all to the boys‘ bedroom she happily does so.

Pansy, on the other hand, glares at him.

„We had to wait two hours for prefects to change in the morning and couldn‘t have done that instead?“

***

They find Blaise easily enough and even Theo joins them in the common room in the afternoon. But those are not places to hold the conversation about the stone.

Finally, it‘s after dinner and appropriately late that the four boys can easily go to their bedroom without it seeming strange at all.

Draco throws himself into the dramatic retelling and Harry is happy to let him do so, with just few remarks thrown in every once in a while. Blaise and Theo look appropriately impressed with the chess game. Harry is happy to see Theo invested once again, even though he is still curled in the corner of the sofa, a little away from the rest of them. But Harry makes sure to include him and Theo even sends him a shy, grateful smile for that.

„So? What was there, what was all this for?“

„It‘s strange,“ Harry says as he gets up to get the stone. He didn‘t bring it with him outside the bedroom again. He doesn‘t see anything special about the stone, but he doesn‘t want anyone to know he has it, either. „The last room had just a pedestal with a stone on it. Well, a ruby gemstone, but still, strange, right?“

„That is strange.“ Blaise is frowning the same way they all did when they saw it for the first time. „Are you sure it‘s just a ruby gemstone?“

„I mean, I don‘t know any magic that would tell us what it is exactly, but look at it.“

To Harry‘s surprise, the moment Blaise sees the stone he jumps up and runs to Harry.

„This? This is what Fluffy was guarding?“

Harry and Draco exchange confused looks.

„Yes, we just told you. Why? Do you know what it is?“

„Do I… Are you kidding? Uncle Nick has been complaining about missing this since I remember, since mum met him. Of course, he has enough life elixir to at least see the beginning of the next century, but he has been aging for decades now and aunt Pen has health issues and… Do you even know what this is?“

„No.“

Curiously, the deadpan answer comes from Theo, too. Less deadpan, more curious, but still. Blaise looks at them with wide eyes before pointing at the stone in Harry‘s hand.

„This? This is Philosopher‘s stone.“

Silence follows that exclamation and Harry suddenly finds his hand holding the stone stretched as far away as possible.

„Philosopher‘s stone.“ Draco‘s voice is skeptical. „As in, Nicolas Flamel, Philosopher‘s stone.“

„Yes! Nick taught my dad at Beauxbatons Academy, apparently hitting it off and becoming friends. Nick is my godfather and he‘s been complaining about some ungrateful apprentice of his stealing the stone for ages now. Of course, he keeps it under the wraps, but he‘s not happy. Guess we now know who the apprentice was.“

More silence follows. Slowly, Harry puts the stone carefully down on the table and sits back down.

„You‘re Nicolas Flamel‘s godson.“

Blaise huffs at his unbelieving voice.

„You‘re not the only one who has special family, you know?“

Rationally, yes, Harry knows that. He just never really thought about it.

„Well, considering that it apparently was stolen, you better take it back to your godfather.“

„Are you sure? That stone is very powerful and you were the one who retrieved it.“

Harry just shrugs.

„Its main purpose is making gold and making you immortal. I have enough gold and no desire to become immortal. Immortality is a curse.“

At least that‘s what his own godfather, Corvinus Lestrange, keeps repeating. Harry believes him, but he honestly thinks that he stresses over it too much.

Blaise smiles at Harry, an honest, soft smile Harry doesn‘t think he saw before.

„Thank you, Harry. That… it will mean a lot to Nick.“

Harry‘s own grin widens. He never thought making small favours for powerful people so that they owe him would be so easy.

„Hey. I was there, too, you know? Without me he wouldn‘t get through the chess room or the potions riddle.“

„Pansy was there, too.“

„Yeah, being a great pain in my ass.“

Blaise takes the stone soon after and hides it in his own suitcase. By the Yule time, the stone will no longer be at Hogwarts. And hopefully by the beginning of the next semester the rightful owner will have it once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do believe that the troll there was the troll that "attacked" during the Halloween here. Both here and in canon. Here, the troll died instead of being simply unconscious, so Dumbledore will have to find a new troll. But that takes some time. And because our Slytherins are rather quick, the empty room is empty because professor Longbottom killed the troll.  
> I didn't bother to write the riddle here word for word, because I'm sure we all know what's in it. It's easily found online, but at the time I wrote the scene I was offline and then I liked the way it's written so I didn't bother adding it.  
> As for the Devil's snare - it's found on property of almost every pureblooded family. Usually planted at the border of their properties, it's used as a security device to stop unwelcome guests from coming into the property - kinda Addams family style. The movie, I mean. Pansy, Draco, and Harry all know it from their own homes. That's why they know how to defeat it.  
> The rest of the year will be dealt more in a summary style. Three chapters left to deal with the whole school year isn't much, but then again, the whole plot of the first book is dealt with, isn't it? How do you like the way the Slytherins dealt with it?


	13. Arguing for fosterage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Samhain comes Yule.  
> Harry enjoys the holidays while Tom asks around about the muggleborn his son seems to be fond of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about being a day late. I was a little busy reading yesterday.  
> And for this chapter - blessed Yule!

A fter the excitement of Philosopher‘s stone (Pansy refuses to believe Blaise until he somewhat reluctantly shows her a picture of much younger him with an old, fragile-looking man. Apparently, that‘s Nicolas Flamel) school is just… dull. Harry does his reading and he prepares for his classes d iligently . Well, his charms and transfiguration classes, the rest don‘t really require that much preparation. He writes his essays, and thanks Merlin that he thought to bring his old essays with him after Samhain. Pansy had the same idea, but it didn‘t occur to Draco. He‘s not happy that he needs to spend much more time on essays than the two of them.

Grandpa‘s Sal introduction to parselmagic helps keep him busy. When most people study, including their little group, and he‘s already done he turns to that book. The studying of that is slow going. Parselmagic is strong and oftentimes unbreakable. Not for small spells, like casting a shield or preventing someone from overhearing you. But hexes and complicated charms? Those are unbreakable. So almost half of the small, thin book is warnings. Harry would love to just overlook that, but he knows better. Not only would father have his head for just learning the magic without reading the warnings before, but if grandpa Sal found out that he ignored his warnings, he‘d be in for a day long lecture. Grandpa Sal is good at them. And if Harry deserves it (which he would if he didn‘t read the warnings) grandpa Rick won‘t save him.

Finch-Fletchley and Longbottom become a permanent fixture in their little group. Longbottom comes to ask for help with homework or to just talk with Vince, but Finch-Fletchley actually comes to discuss the homework with them. Of course, he still has questions about wizarding world and he always listens to whatever they have to say. But during essay writing and class studying he argues and debates and honestly, it hardly takes two weeks before Harry realizes that it helps their schoolwork. It helps them see things in more than just their perspective.

They spend some time in the library and more time in the common classrooms and Harry is impressed with how quickly Finch-Fletchley picks up some of the spells they show him. At first he seems uncomfortable practicing spells that they didn‘t go over during their classes.

„It just… doesn‘t seem fair to the rest of the students.“

The Slytherins exchange a long look after that.

„You do realize that we all learned all of this during the last two years, right? I mean, we learned a lot more during the last six years, but we got wands only on our ninth birthday.“

„Besides, you had to notice that we‘re learning nothing during Latin.“

Finch-Fletchley frowns at that.

„Why do you attend Hogwarts, then?“

This time, the silence is a little more charged.

„Our families have a long tradition of coming to Hogwarts. Like, William the Conqueror traditions.“

„Yes. Back when the school was actually the best in Europe. Have you seen the newest results comparing Hogwarts to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang? It‘s getting worse.“

„Besides, Ministry provides exams for home schooled students, but it has better ring when it comes with Hogwarts name on it. The school might be going downhill, but the name still opens doors in Europe.“

„And you can‘t really socialize while home schooled.“

Finch-Fletchley gives him an unbelieving look as he looks around. It‘s just the five of them and Finch-Fletchley.

„And by socializing, you mean making connections. Although I admit I don‘t see how I can be useful in that regard.“

„Well, you pick up charms like they‘re second nature to you and you provide interesting viewpoint for most of our discussions. That‘s enough for now. Now, do you want to learn Aguamenti or not? In retrospect, we should have taught you that before the fire spell.“

With late November comes snow and with December temperatures in which they are no longer comfortable going out just to be out. Harry feels somewhat caged. The only thing keeping him focused are Marcus‘ trainings. He and Higgs teamed up in late November to put protective charms on their training clothes. That‘s when Draco and Harry got their own small quidditch practice clothes.

The beginning of December is also when Harry‘s birthday is. Well, technically he was born at the end of July, he knows that now. But the magical adoption took care of that and he is twelve at the beginning of December in every sense that counts. He wakes up to a small pile of gifts in the foot of his bed along with letters from his family. He‘s used to getting just a small pile of gifts for birthday, considering that it‘s so close to Yule, and he doesn‘t mind. Especially since the letters are in all his favourite people‘s handwritings, wishing him well. He‘s got books and quidditch gear in Slytherin colours (he senses Marcus‘ influence in his fathers‘ presents) and some sweets and another parselmagic book from father. This one is brand new, though, written by their friend from India. It even has a handwritten dedication to him from the author. He can‘t wait to start reading this. After he finishes the book by grandpa Sal.

Draco seems like he doesn‘t remember his birthday at first, but when they make it into the common room and Pansy sprays confetti over him, he‘s right there with her. Harry laughs a nd fires right back, but he does so with glitter. Neither Pansy nor Draco look that happy about it, but Blaise’s laugh gets even harder and even Theo smiles widely.

Two weeks before the end of semester there‘s another quidditch game. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams are lucky. That Saturday is really cold, but it‘s not raining or snowing and it‘s sunny. Great conditions for quidditch match. It‘s not as much fun as the Slytherin game, mostly because Harry isn‘t really interested in the outcome of this game. And partly because even though the Hufflepuffs are really enthusiastic and Ravenclaws have some very clever chants, their cheering isn‘t anywhere near the same level Gryffindors and Slytherins showed during last game. And it‘s not just Harry‘s opinion. There‘s much less people than the last time. Sure, it could have been just because it was the first game of the semester. But last time practically the whole school made it to the game. This time, not even all Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are there. Most of Gryffindor still shows up, but Slytherin has hardly half-full stands. Not that Harry‘s complaining.

The last two weeks before Yule are a blur of essays and tests and finally, finally on the 21st they all make their way over to Hogsmeade to get on the Hogwarts express. Harry hates that they‘re cutting it so short before Yule starts, but that‘s just how it is that year.

Finch-Fletchley joins them in their compartment. It‘s a little tight with Harry, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Theo, and Finch-Fletchley all there all the time and Vince, Greg, Longbottom, and even Millicent stopping by at times, but they make it work. Harry makes a mental note to research a space-alterning spells. He probably won‘t be able to use them for some time, but it would be nice to have a big enough compartment so all of them could fit.

They play Snaps and Finch-Fletchley manages to almost beat Draco in chess before the lunch lady stops by and makes them realize that it‘s time to eat. Finch-Fletchley is surprised to find the rest of them pull out a packed lunch.

„What, your elves didn‘t pack you a lunch?“

„My what?“

Of course that‘s when the conversation somehow gets away from them. Thankfully, Theo just sighs and gestures for Finch-Fletchley to come closer so he can explain in soft tone and simple words. Harry gets ready to move the focus on himself when he thinks Finch-Fletchley will argue that they‘re slaves (apparently, that‘s a common misconception among muggleborns), but Finch-Fletchley once again surprises him by simply asking for book recommendation on the topic.

Of course by then the rest of them are distracted, so Finch-Fletchley just asks about more detail into Yule.

Personally, Harry thinks that Christmas is strange for having a set date, not Yule that depends on when the Winter Solstice is. Who just decided that Christmas is on 25th? But he appreciates that Finch-Fletchley checks that he‘s got the importance of each day down.

The first day of Yule is for presents, usually spent in close family circle. And yes, a lot of their holidays is about family. That‘s what you get in a society that‘s sustained by families. You open your presents in the morning (that much is the same as Christmas, at least from what Harry learned) and spend the day with your family, lighting the log in the evening in the circle of your closest family. Usually, „closest family“ means at least three generations of it, especially if you‘re an heir or a sibling or a child of an heir. But for Harry and his father, it means just the two of them. Well, them and their family. It‘s all very similar to how they celebrate Samhain, actually, but Harry never minds.

The fourth day of Yule is for society. Malfoys used to organize a ball that day, but Harry‘s father needed to sway public‘s opinion when he first took his spot at Wizengamot. And Malfoys, for all their own ambition, know better than to go against lord Slytherin. Ever since then the biggest event of the season is the first event of ball season – the Slytherin Yule ball.

The week after that is for whatever you make of it. For Harry, it‘s family time. But this time, it‘s all of their family coming to the castle to spend at least few days with them.

***

The pile of presents is not a surprise for Harry. After all, his blood family might be only his father, but his true family is bigger and, more importantly, affectionate. Not in the traditional sense where families hug and are all over each other, but they are still affectionate. And the easiest way for them to show that is through presents. So yeah, Harry usually has a nice pile of them. Not only from his father and uncles, but also Rabastan and Barty and even Rodolphus and Irene usually send something small, but thoughtful and sweet.

There‘s a lot of books, but Marcus sent quidditch gloves (only thing missing from the quidditch gear he got from uncle Theodore and uncle Emory for his birthday) and most of Harry‘s friends sent sweets and uncle Emory and uncle Theodore sent a warm, luxurious cloak and winter boots. Well, uncle Emory sent the cloak and uncle Theodore boots, but they‘re matching and the note on uncle Theodore‘s present saying that there‘s silencing charm on the boots is in Emory‘s handwriting, but Harry learned better than to mention that little fact.

In the middle of the morning another owl arrives, carrying a box of chocolates for Harry. And a note.

_Dear Mr Gaunt, I hope these find you in time. I apologize if this finds you late, but this is the earliest I was able to arrange for my gifts to arrive. I hope I‘m not overstepping, but Vince informed me that a box of chocolate is a perfectly appropriate way to thank You for Your help during this semester. The chocolate comes from a muggle factory, but my parents tell me it‘s the best in the whole world. Thank you for your help and I‘m looking forward to cooperating further in the New Year. Happy Yule. Justin Finch-Fletchley_

Harry smiles and opens the carved wooden box and tries one of the chocolates. It‘s exquisite.

„Who is that from, then?“

„Justin Finch-Fletchley.“ Harry hands the note to his father. „We‘ve been helping him with his Introductory class. He‘s really good at charms, too. Did you know that muggle-raised children are not really used to writing essays? Justin has been studying with us a lot lately.“

Father hums softly as he reads through the note before setting it on the table.

„Have you sent him anything for Christmas?“

„No. Honestly, I don‘t think we‘re that close yet. He said it himself – he‘s thanking me for helping him. I wonder if the rest got chocolates from him, too.“

With a little sadness he thinks about Theo. He sent him a transfiguration book he found in a catalog while Yule shopping during the last month. He didn‘t think it‘s as advanced as the book Theo‘s been reading rather regularly, but he still thought it‘s a good present. But Theo didn‘t send anything. Maybe they‘re not as close as Harry assumed.

Father, as if sensing his thoughts, asks: „Have you received presents from everyone you expected?“

Harry hesitates for a moment, not sure how to word what he wants to say.

„Theodore Nott is in our year. He‘s been… friendly with us. I sent him a book I thought he might like, but he didn‘t send anything to me.“ Then he looks his father straight in the eyes. „I think there‘s something wrong in his home. It took him forever to start talking to us properly and then we all went home for Samhain and he came back not talking to us once again. Also, there‘s been a problem during his examination with healers at the beginning of the year. He‘s careful not to touch anyone and it took him weeks to start properly talking to us when we first came to Hogwarts. And even now he withdraws easily and speaks only softly. Father, can you do something?“

Father‘s frowning as he looks at the fire in the nearby fireplace, but Harry doesn‘t think he‘s seeing it. Finally, he looks at Harry and smiles softly.

„I‘ll see what I can do. Now, lunch?“

***

Tom is curious about the Finch-Fletchley boy. Harry mentioned him a few times in his letters, but Tom didn‘t realize that he‘s been spending so much time with him. He‘s glad that Harry‘s helping a muggleborn who apparently wants to learn, but that doesn‘t mean that he‘ll settle for Harry‘s word on it. His son is a bright young man, but he is still just twelve.

He‘s glad to see Corvinus arrive first and Harry is with them in a moment, excitedly hugging his godfather. Tom watches it with fondness. His son is much more tactile than what Tom‘s comfortable with. He was able to deal with it when Harry was a baby, but as he grew it got awkward for Tom. Of course, he would comfort his son in any way he needed it. But he himself is much more guarded. But once again, his brilliant son understands that. He goes for the touches to his uncles who are much more comfortable with it. Corvinus is always happy to provide that, but even Theodore is happy to hug Harry.

The ballroom fills easily. Tom opens the whole ground floor for guests during his Yule ball and the courtyard with the fountain is also fully lit and the fountain is frozen so it‘s pretty to look at. Most of the Wizengamot is there and practically everyone teaching at Hogwarts comes as well. Harry told him about his talk with Dumbledore and once again he‘s more than happy that as lord Slytherin, he doesn‘t have to invite anyone he doesn‘t want to see.

He keeps an eye on Harry, but for all the mischief he likes to get into on any given day he‘s usually well behaved during Yule. Draco and Pansy glued to his sides certainly help with that. And the three galleons they each get if Harry doesn‘t do anything to inconvenience Tom‘s guests. Well, five now. They started at three when they were six, after the first ball Harry attended where he somehow managed to start a fire. Pansy bargains hard and he‘s fully expecting to have to go ten galleons before they finish Hogwarts.

He asks the Parkinsons and then Malfoys if their children also got presents from the Finch-Fletchley boy. They did, and it also arrived late. Malfoys are not happy about it, grumbling about the boy having no manners, but Tom ignores that part. The boy‘s explanation and apology were sincere and the sentiment behind the presents was more than polite.

He‘s a little surprised to see Harry and his friends talking to a chubby blond boy at one point.

„Neville is very fond of your son, lord Slytherin.“

Tom doesn‘t show that he‘s actually surprised to find lord Longbottom next to him. Instead he turns towards him with a polite smile.

„Is he? Harry tells me that he‘s much better friends with Vincent Crabbe.“

Lord Longbottom nods in agreement and drinks slowly from his cup of wine.

„He also tells me that young Theodore Nott is a big help with his homework. I‘m surprised to not see him here.“

„I sent the invite for the whole Nott family, of course.“

Lord Longbottom hums softly and they chat for a moment about some Wizengamot business before lady Longbottom comes and chides her husband for job talk.

„I‘m sorry, lord Slytherin. I know you prefer not to talk about work during your ball.“

There‘s a slight amusement in her smile and Tom allows his own amusement to show as he nods at her, acknowledging the slight teasing. After all, he started this ball mainly to talk business in… less formal manner.

„Lady Longbottom, looking radiant as always. How are things at the Auror department?“

„Oh, you know how it is with a bunch of overexcited action-ready children playing grown-up. Thankfully, Amelia has it firmly under control.“

Alice Longbottom never really bothered with nicities, but now she takes the time for small talk. Tom wonders if Harry and his friends helping her son really left such a strong impression on her. Either way, he‘s not complaining.

Finally, he finds Severus chatting with Lily Evans, Augusta Longbottom, and Minerva McGonagall. It‘s not the strangest group he‘s ever seen, but it‘s surely up there. If he‘s honest, their friendship scares him just a bit. If they weren‘t so focused on raising their children, the four of them would be truly terrifying if they wanted to be.

„I hope you‘re finding the party well.“

„Charming as always, lord Slytherin.“ Tom lets his eyes linger on the complicated braid miss Evans has going on with something that looks like tiny stars in it making her hair shine. „Thank you for the invite.“

„You know you have a place here, miss Evans, you don‘t have to thank me every time.“

„I find it‘s just good form to thank every time.“ Augusta Longbottom‘s smile is tight and somewhat icy, but she also seems amused. „You can never have too much manners.“

„I can‘t argue with that,“ Tom concedes. „I‘m sorry to bring up work, ladies, Severus, but could you perhaps tell me something about mister Finch-Fletchley?“

McGonagall scrunches her eyebrows at him, obviously not liking that question.

„What do you want to know, lord Slytherin?“

The easy atmosphere is gone and the air is tense. Tom wants to roll his eyes at that. As if he didn‘t have other ways to target muggleborns if he wanted to. Hell, as lord Slytherin and the chairman of Hogwarts Board he could simply forbid muggleborns from attending Hogwarts at all. But that‘s not what he wants.

Luckily, Lily Evans is clever enough to realize all that, so she answers his question.

„Justin Finch-Fletchley is usually quiet during classes, but he‘s very talented with charms and even his essays has been steadily getting better. I usually go easier on muggleborns during first year where essays are concerned, because they usually aren‘t used to writing them, but mister Finch-Fletchley caught on pretty quickly. Your own son is helping him, right?“

„Yes. Harry says that mister Finch-Fletchley approached them to help him with his Introductory class.“

„Yes, mister Finch-Fletchley is very careful about how he addresses everyone. Although I do see his progress, it‘s starting to be second nature to him. His transfiguration work isn‘t as impressive as charms, but his essays are always thoughtful and he studies diligently. Are you worried for your son, lord Slytherin?“

Augusta Longbottom‘s question is sharp and the eyes that are watching him almost accusing. Slowly, Tom takes a sip of his wine.

„I‘m not worried for Harry. He can take care of himself and his friends would help him. No. Harry seems fond of the boy, though, and… well, I‘ve been arguing for fosterage in Wizengamot for years now. I truly believe in the system, but I do think that on the level of each case we need to be careful with who we chose. Not everyone is fit to offer it to every child, after all. Now, if you‘ll excuse me. I‘m glad to see all of you could make it. Please, enjoy your stay at the castle.“

He glances towards Severus and nods at him in what he hopes is a friendly manner before leaving. He feels their eyes on him, so he makes sure to not hurry anywhere, simply exchanging polite greetings and small conversations with his guests. He stops for a while with professors Flitwick, Cybulka, and Richards and joins their discussion about what charms are probably in place in the Great Hall to make the ceiling look like the sky. He doesn‘t really know the answer to that, but the discussion is amusing and fascinating at the same time. And while he knows that none of those professors actually teach first years, it still gives him an opportunity to ask about mister Finch-Fletchley.

„I‘m sorry, lord Slytherin, I don‘t really know anything about mister Finch-Fletchley.“

„That‘s good, right?“ asks professor Cybulka in slightly accented English. It got much better since Tom hired him five years ago, but it‘s still apparent that he‘s not a native speaker. „Considering your status as Ravenclaw head of house you‘d know about him if he caused any trouble, right?“

„That is true, yes. You‘re better off asking Pomona, lord Slytherin. The boy is in her house.“

Tom thanks professor Flitwick with a smile and wishes the three professors a nice stay at the castle. He switches his empty glass of champagne for a full one and makes his way through the hall. He can‘t find professor Sprout anywhere. Instead he finds his best friend by his side. Well, one of them.

„Is there a reason why you‘re starting a rumor that we‘re going after muggleborns again?“

Tom gives Corvinus an unimpressed glare.

„Again?“

Corvinus shrugs.

„That‘s the rumor going around. What‘s going on?“

Tom doesn‘t say a word for a long moment, m aking  sure that they blend into the shadows without anyone truly noticing. For a moment he thinks about the possibility of slipping into their private rooms to show Corvinus the letter, but he dismisses that quickly. Harry has the letter in his room. He would have to include Harry in that, too, and that would  be  just unn ecessary. Instead he speaks in low, hushed voice.

„Harry received a late gift from this Finch-Fletchley, along with a letter. The letter was worded very politely and it explained why the present arrived late. Harry talked about him occasionally. And you know that I support the fosterage system.“

Corvinus raises his eyebrows at him, surprised.

„Are you honestly thinking about offering to foster the boy?“

„Yes. But before I approach the boy or his parents I‘d like to find as much about him as possible. I‘d like to make sure that he‘d be a good fit for us. You coming with?“

Corvinus huffs, but when Tom looks at him he seems just as calm and collected as always. Tom lets the warm wave of affection for his friends surround him as he looks around the room. There‘s still no professor Sprout.

Of course, they find her in the winter garden. She‘s talking to lady Shacklebolt and Tom‘s smile widens lightly.

„Good afternoon, ladies. I hope I‘m not interrupting.“

„Not at all, lord Slytherin. You have a gorgeous Fanged Geranium,“ professor Sprout smiles at him kindly and gestures towards said flower. Tom hardly glances there. He‘s not exactly a fan of herbology. And thankfully, even Harry grew out of his fascination with it. But the elves like to take care of living things – no matter if they‘re people or flowers.

„Thank you, professor Sprout. Lady Shacklebolt, I hope you‘re not yet tired of our young.“

Lady Schaklebolt gives him a perfectly polite smile.

„I do find this year‘s students somewhat… wilder than usual, but I‘m sure that they‘ll settle momentarily. Augusta is, as always, a great help in handling the Gryffindors. I do miss having Slytherins in my class. Third year in a row now. Luckily, this year has some sharp children who are as willing to voice their questions as the Slytherins usually are.“

„So you don‘t have any problem this year?“

„Nothing me or Augusta can‘t handle.“

„I‘m glad to hear that,“ Tom smiles softly and nods lightly. „How‘s mister Finch-Fletchley doing? I believe he‘s in your house, professor Sprout…?“

„Oh, yes,“ lady Shacklebolt nods with a small smile. „Mister Finch-Fletchley is a very bright young man. One of those who are not afraid to ask many, many questions. I believe I can thank your son and his group of friends for answering those questions.“

Tom nods in acknowledgement and with a soft smile that he‘s not entirely willing to suppress. But then he turns to see professor Sprout‘s thoughtful expression.

„Professor Sprout? What do you think about mister Finch-Fletchley?“

„Oh. He‘s very bright. I‘m just a little worried… he doesn‘t seem to make any friends in his Hufflepuff classmates. I‘m very happy he found some companionship in your son and his friends, lord Slytherin,“ she adds quickly, although Tom sees that she‘s not entirely comfortable with that. „But in his own house he‘s somewhat… isolated. The only one he seeks out is Megan Jones, a muggleborn girl, but she‘s starting to set in nicely with the rest of the girls. Justin… doesn‘t.“

Interesting. Tom carefully schools his face into a concerned expression as he nods along to professor Sprout.

„I‘m sure he will make friends in no time at all. All I hear about him are good things.“

Including from his son, who Tom is very certain is very close to actually befriending the young muggleborn boy. But Tom doesn‘t think that would make professor Sprout relax, so he doesn‘t mention it. Instead he lets Corvinus and lady Shacklebolt talk for a moment before wishing them an entertaining evening and leaving. Corvinus goes with him.

„Harry must really like the boy,“ Corvinus comments.

„He speaks of him fondly,“ replies Tom absentmindedly as he catches sight of some of Marcus‘ friends sneaking around near the bar. „Do you see Emory and Theodore anywhere? I need them to get their son and his friends under control.“

„Like you have yours?“

„It‘s ten galleons well spent.“

***

Harry enjoys the ball. To be honest, he enjoys it more than during previous years. Sure, he has to deal with Macmillan like every year, but Longbottom also comes with his parents and that‘s a first. Longbottom seems shy at first, but he smiles at Pansy when she compliments his robes and Harry is happy to show him the greenhouse. The winter garden is open to everyone, so they start there, but Harry sneaks them to the greenhouse that is technically closed even for him tonight.

Longbottom looks excited about that, happily going over the whole greenhouse. From what he‘s saying it‘s not that different from what he has at home, but he‘s still excited to explore a new greenhouse… Harry guesses.

Harry is nowhere near as amused. Neither is Pansy and Draco.

„How long do we have to be here?“

„Just let him enjoy it,“ Harry rolls his eyes. „Just be glad that Vince has someone who‘s as passionate about flowers as he is.“

Vince is right there with Longbottom, chatting happily about almost every plant there is in the greenhouse. It‘s nice to see Vince that happy.

When they make it back to the ballroom they find Marcus and most of the quidditch team sheepishly hiding in a corner.

„What happened?“

„Emory,“ Marcus sighs and Bole, Derrick, and Bletchley shiver. Harry smirks. Marcus rolls his eyes and ruffles his hair. „Shut up, squirt. Where were you?“

Harry glances behind himself to see Longbottom and Vince talking to lord and lady Longbottom, but it‘s Pansy who answers him.

„Harry insisted on showing Longbottom the greenhouse.“

Marcus frowns at them.

„And you couldn‘t take us with you?“

„I thought you didn‘t want to hang out with eleven year old children when you don‘t have to?“ Draco asks with a bite in his tone and a smile on his lips. Harry just smirks as Marcus frowns.

„Harry‘s twelve now.“

They spend the rest of the night with the quidditch team. The boys don‘t really look happy about it and some of them even leave to dance with witches their age that are also attending. Marcus is one of them, but he regularly comes back. Pansy bats her eyes and flirts with Pucey and the boy seems unsure what to do with that, but Harry notices that Higgs watches him react somewhat awkwardly with fondness in his eyes. When Harry glances at Pansy and she smirks at him he‘s sure it means something, but not sure what. Or better said, he’s not sure what Pansy thinks it means.

As the evening comes the guests start to trickle out. Draco and Pansy are one of the lasts to leave, but they do leave. Harry is sad to see them go, but he can‘t say he‘s sad to see their parents go with them. He‘s a little sad he hasn‘t seen Lyra, but she‘s still too young to attend such an official ball. She should be joining them next year, but for now she‘s home being watched by the Malfoy elves.

When he wakes up the next day his uncles Corvinus, Emory, and Theodore are all still there, as is Marcus. Rabastan and Barty and Rose are also there, although Harry knows there weren‘t there for the ball. Rose is even younger than Lyra and because it‘s her first Yule, neither Rabastan nor Barty were willing to leave her in the care of Barty‘s father for the afternoon.

Now they‘re all sitting in the living room. The table is nowhere to be seen and the teas and coffees are set on various trays on the sofa. Where the table usually is Rose and Rabastan sit on the carpet, playing with a ball that lights up in different color every time someone touches it.

„Good morning,“ Harry greets them with a smile as he bounces over to Rabastan and practically collapses into his lap as he hugs him. Rabastan just laughs as he hugs him and Rose moves a little away from them, but when Harry grins at her she smiles a little shyly.

There‘s also a letter from Rodolphus and his wife Irene going around. They‘re still in France. Apparently, they found friends there that invited them for their Yule celebrations. The letter has a little personal note for everyone present and they even sent a photo with it. Photo of the two of them together and smiling and waving at them. They look happy and Harry is happy to see that. The last time he saw them, they both looked defeated and tired. It‘s good to know that they‘re better now.

The holiday goes by too quickly. Rose is a little more open than she was during Samhain and when she and her fathers leave three days later she happily hugs everyone goodbye. Harry‘s uncles stay the whole week, but after the young family leaves both Harry and Marcus are directed back to their schoolwork. They do have homework for the holiday, after all. Marcus is not happy about that, but Harry doesn‘t really mind.

„Of course you don‘t mind. The first two years are basically just repeat of what you already know. And this political science class is a pain in my ass.“

„Why are you even taking a political science class? It‘s not like you‘re going to inherit the lordship.“

„Hopefully,“ Marcus growls. „Until Christine has a child I am technically the heir.“

„How are Christine and Nick anyway?“

„Blissfully happy.“ Marcus says it with a sneer and Harry chuckles. „I swear it‘s like they got married yesterday instead of three years ago. And stop distracting me, squirt.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Justin wishes Harry Happy Yule. As I've been corrected after the Samhain chapter, that's not really the way people who celebrate these holidays wish it. But Justin isn't used to the pagan holidays yet and Harry and Tom know it, which is why they tolerate it. Better than if he wished them happy Christmas or even holidays.  
> As for the professors Flitwick talks to - Cybulka teaches history from 3rd to 5th year. Graduate from Durmstrang, English is not his first language, hence the comment about his accent. Richards teaches history to NEWTs students, graduate of Slytherin.  
> Having just one professor for one subject is bullshit, so I have at least two teachers per core subject. Of course, Binns was dealt with the moment Tom had the chance.  
> Two chapter to go!


	14. Sit your asses down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry comes back for the second semester.  
> A slice of Hogwarts life and Harry making friends. After all, the stone is dealt with now.

Harry mentions Fluffy to father, but apparently Dumbledore informed the Board that he will be hiding a personal item very valuable to him in Hogwarts and asked them to be able to provide extra protection for it. So yes, father knows a Cerberus is residing at Hogwarts at the moment.

The ride back to Hogwarts is calm and quiet. Millicent hesitates before she quietly asks if she can join them and Pansy just smiles at her and moves a little so Millicent can sit next to her. Blaise finds them soon enough and tries to start a conversation, but when he‘s unsuccessful in that he stands back up and tells them he‘s going to go look for Theo.

Harry is a little surprised to see both Pansy and Draco in no mood to talk. That‘s not like them. But Pansy‘s wearing her stubborn expression and Draco‘s face is drawn tight. That means that their parents are pushing them into something they don‘t want to do. Of course, if they just tell Harry what it is he can have his father lean into their parents to leave them alone, but that won‘t happen for at least few days now.

Besides, it‘s not that important. Beltane is no longer a holiday recognized by Hogwarts. Instead they have Easter holidays now. It was a compromise made so that the pureblood students could leave for Samhain. Harry wouldn‘t have it the other way around. But that means that the next time Draco and Pansy will see their parents is at the end of the school year, for summer holidays.

The Great Hall and all its noises is a shock after two weeks of quiet in the Slytherin castle. Even the ball was quieter than the noise of the Great Hall. Harry blames the Gryffindors. He knows it‘s not Slytherins, because they‘re not really talking. Not even among friends.

Draco and Pansy are withdrawn, but they‘re at least present. Theo is nowhere to be seen. Harry asks Blaise, but he just sighs.

„Found him in a compartment of fourth years, in the corner. Wouldn‘t talk.“

Blaise frowns as he looks at Harry and Harry‘s own face goes dark. He makes a mental note to once again ask father to do something about it.

Harry is happy to make it back to the common room. But when he goes to head right to the bedroom prefect Farley grabs his robe and tugs him back.

„Nuh-huh. The fun is yet to begin. Sit your asses down, firsties.“ Then she frowns. „Where‘s Nott? Never mind that.“

And with that she disappears in the boys dormitory. Harry is not even surprised how easy that is anymore. He was a little at the beginning – don‘t they have separate dorms for a reason? But the reason mostly seems to be that you can‘t have all year in one dormitory and gender is just an easy way to sort people. Girls can go to boys‘ dormitories and the other way around as easily as they can to their own. They just usually respect each other‘s privacy.

Soon enough, professor Vector comes to the room and all the students start cheering. Harry, Draco, and Pansy exchange dubious looks. Vector just smirks as she walks over to the board where they have different announcements, along with the score of each student, so they can keep an eye on how they‘re doing. And so the older students can keep an eye on the younger ones, make sure that they‘re not failing. That score board stopped actualizing itself about halfway through December.

„Congratulations, you all managed to pass your tests.“ There‘s a loud cheer and Harry laughs, delighted. „As always, first years first. Second in the year at transfiguration, heiress Daphne Greengrass.“ The room applauds and Daphne‘s cheeks go pink. „First in charms, Harrison Gaunt.“ Marcus hollers and Harry grins at him. „First in potions, heir Draco Malfoy.“ The whole quidditch team cheers a little more than the rest of the room. Draco‘s smirk is self-satisfied and completely honest. „And finally, congratulations to the first overall student in the first year – Harrison Gaunt.“

Harry smirks and lets the cheers wash over him, enjoying every second of it. After all, he earned it.

But as Vector continues, he frowns. She mentions everyone who makes it top three at any given subject. That means that he‘s top three in only one case. Sure, he‘s still best overall, but that just means that he‘s probably fourth or fifth for the rest of his subjects. He needs to do better.

Harry doesn‘t really know most of the people, but he does notice that prefects tend to be mentioned rather lot. From the quidditch team, Pucey is mentioned for history and defense, Marcus for charms, and Higgs for… well, from what Harry understands, everything he‘s taking.

All in all, the higher years get mentioned more. There are some who are mentioned for three or four subjects, but there are also those who are mentioned just once, even in the higher years.

The higher in the years she goes the louder the cheer gets. Harry gets it, they know each other better. But then he catches a sight of firewhiskey and someone hands them a handful of butterbeers. Maybe that‘s the reason.

Vector smiles at them, proudness clear in her face as she looks around the common room, taking a look at every single one of her snakes.

„Alright, alright,“ she interrupts when the cheering is the loudest. „You have tonight to celebrate. I expect all of you to do at least as good, if possible better at the end of the year. And no firewhiskey to the first two years!“

There‘s a party that rivals the one they had after their quidditch victory. Except there‘s no push-back of their curfew, so the first years are hushed into their bedroom about five minutes before nine.

The second semester starts right away and soon Harry is once again bored by it. This time even Draco had the sense to bring his old essays with him so their time spent on essays shortens… some. Mostly because the three of them are now quickly done with it, but they still spend time in the library with Blaise and Theo working on their essays and helping Justin, Millicent, Vince, Greg, and sometimes even Longbottom with their essays. Truth be told, Justin doesn‘t really need help as much as someone to bounce his ideas off. It‘s fun, it helps all of them to sharpen their essays.

Turns out, Millicent and Longbottom have similar problems when working on their homework. They know what they want to say, but they have problems formulating it. And they don‘t know how to cite their sources. It‘s easier for Pansy to take both of them under her wings instead of helping one of them at the time. Theo is usually the one to help Vince and Greg with their work – he‘s the only one patient enough for that. Blaise is usually busy enough with his own work and Draco takes to helping Pansy through sarcastic jabs and biting comments. Longbottom seems a little scared at first, but Millicent doesn‘t mind at all. She‘s used to them and Pansy and Draco usually throw her a smile when she does something right. Pansy does the same to Longbottom but he seems more scared of her after that.

The small group of them practicing spells in the first floor empty classroom grows. Vince and Greg come along with Justin one afternoon, Millicent goes with them another afternoon when they invite her (approximately for the fiftieth time, but Harry is happy she accepts all the same), and soon after Millicent tells Longbottom about the group in soft voice and somewhat nervous invite. Longbottom is, by far, the worst of them at the practical part. Theo takes a lot of tries to get a charm right and it takes a lot of concentration from him to cast any spell. Millicent is much better at practice than she‘s at theory. Vince and Greg aren‘t that great or precise, they tend to go on intuition and the results vary. But Longbottom… Longbottom hardly ever gets any results. And when he does they‘re not nearly the ones he wanted.

It‘s easy to see that Longbottom is not the most gifted wizard. But Harry has a feeling that if he wasn‘t so nervous and overthinking everything he‘d get better results. Well, something to work on.

About halfway through January after one of their potions classesprofessor Slughorn addresses Draco after he ends the class.

„Mister Malfoy, professor Snape would like to talk to you. Please, visit his office today at three o‘clock.“

Draco nods with a small frown on his face.

„What do you think he wants from you?“

„Not sure. But it‘s probably school related. If he wanted to talk privately he‘d just send an owl, not a word by Slughorn.“

After lunch Draco heads to the office of his godfather. Harry offers to go with him, but Draco refuses. They don‘t see him the whole day. They finish their essays in the library, Harry and Blaise debate happily with Justin about his transfiguration essay, Theo and Pansy helping Millicent, Longbottom, and Vince with their essays, before moving to the classroom on the first floor to try the transfiguration they all learned about this week. They‘re not trying it in practice in the class yet, but they‘re all happy to try it beforehand. Draco is still nowhere to be found.

He joins them for dinner. Or rather, they join him, because he‘s already sitting at their usual spot when they make it to the Great Hall. Immediately he turns towards Pansy.

„You have spa day every Sunday and you told me nothing about it?“

Pansy raises her nose just a bit.

„It‘s a girls thing, in our bathroom. Besides, we take care of our hair there. Why would I tell you?“

Now even Harry is staring at her, unbelieving.

„Have you met Draco? He‘s almost as obsessive about his hair as any of you girls.“

„It doesn‘t matter. Apparently, each year has one student who‘s responsible for making personalized hair potions.“ Pansy shrugs at Draco‘s accusing stare. He‘s not wrong. She knows that there‘s a small group of girls preparing those potions for everyone of their year-mates each month, but her and the girls in their year had just their parents send them their own potions. „Professor Snape says he personally chooses which one is good enough to prepare those potions. And because you girls suck at potions, for our year it‘s gonna be me. So this Sunday, I‘m going with you.“

Pansy makes a face and Harry smirks. She‘s conflicted. On one hand, the Sunday spa day is something she probably wants to protect from the boys, a girls day she enjoys. On the other hand, personalized hair potions are key in caring for one‘s hair. And Draco is very good at potions.

„Can you even brew it?“

„And what do you think I was doing the whole afternoon? Sang a peace song with uncle Sev?“

***

Time goes on.

Harry finally finishes the book by grandpa Sal. He even manages to cast a spell that‘s supposed to make overhearing a conversation impossible, but that backfires when the boys‘ dorm room is filled with a high-pitched scream. It takes him about fifteen minutes to make it go away, but no one comes in and when they go out no one seemed to notice anything. So the spell probably worked. In theory. Blaise swears at him spectacularly for a child and Harry sets to try it somewhere else next time. And maybe not at six thirty in the morning.

Longbottom becomes Neville. First to Millie and Justin and then, tentatively, offers his first name to Pansy and Theo, before Harry, Draco, and Blaise kind of jump on that.

Theo… well. That‘s another thing that takes time. He seems to enjoy helping, so he softly explains things to Vince and Greg and Justin and sometimes even Neville, but for the first few weeks he doesn‘t really talk other than that. During the first week back from holidays professor Vector takes him away from the common room in the evening. Theo is back for breakfast, but he didn‘t come back the whole night. Harry is sure he spent it in infirmary. He sends an urgent owl to his father immediately.

Blaise gives Harry, Draco, and Pansy fancy looking box of chocolates with a small note for each of them. It‘s just a thank you note, signed Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel.

„So I take it he liked our small present?“

Blaise smirks and changes subject. Harry gets it. There are some things, certain identities you don‘t want just anyone to overhear.

The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor game is more interesting than the one in December. Marcus and the team sit next to Harry. Draco and Blaise are on his o ther side, Pansy decided to stay behind to help Millicent with her homework. Or maybe to paint their nails, Harry wasn‘t really paying attention. Gryffindor s flies all over Hufflepuffs, but Diggory at least manages to catch the snitch in time to win the game. The final score is 130:170 and the Gryffindor captain doesn‘t look happy about that at all.

The game in February is much more interesting. Ravenclaws are much better opponents to the Gryffindor quidditch team. The stands aren‘t as excited as they were for the rivalry game between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but the quidditch itself is at least as i nteresting . The game lasts two hours and in the end Gryffindor wins it 320:190. Marcus, once again sitting next to Harry, a ctually seems excited about it.

„Great. We‘re playing Ravenclaws for the finals.“

„Unless the Hufflepuffs beat us to it.“

„Have you seen the Hufflepuff team? We‘re playing in the finals.“

***

February comes and goes and the snow stays. Harry is annoyed because they‘re running again and Harry doesn‘t like to run in the snow. He will do it, because he needs the exercise and he likes the fresh air first thing in the morning, but that doesn‘t mean he likes it. Besides, he‘s tired of Draco whining about it.

Dumbledore also seems quite distressed during February. Harry doesn‘t pay much attention to him (and he thanks Merlin and anyone else who his gratitude might belong to that Dumbledore hasn‘t asked to speak to him since the very first week of school), but he does notice that he‘s more present than before – Harry catches sight of him in between classes in the corridors, talking to various teachers, but he doesn‘t think too much about it. As long as Dumbledore doesn‘t want to talk to him in particular, Harry doesn‘t care.

March comes and Justin brings into their small study group Megan Jones and Sue Li. Harry smiles at Megan when she comes and she shyly returns the smile. They‘re both confused about transfiguration theory and pureblood traditions for their holidays. Megan Jones is timid and comes twice, both times listening closely and then quickly excusing herself. Sue Li comes with prepared questions and Harry is once again reminded that Ravenclaws are scary when they get really interested in something. She seems aware that she needs to know pureblood traditions to truly fit in their society, but her true passion soon turns out to be transfiguration. Her and Theo spend hours after that talking and animately discussing transfiguration theory and the possible practical consequences of it. Soon it comes to a point where when Theo isn‘t with one of them he‘s in the library with Sue. She‘s fierce and likes to argue, but she likes her space and Theo seems to be happy enough around her. Harry stops checking on them obsessively after about two weeks of that.

The March game is brutal. That Saturday comes a big snow storm and it complicates the game between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Most of the students stay in the castle for it, including Pansy and Blaise, but Harry and Draco do come out. They feel like almost a part of the team now and leaving them to face the terrible weather without the two first years would feel like a betrayal. Slytherin manages to win by two hundred points, securing themselves a spot in the final with Ravenclaw. With the game against Ravenclaw in hand. It‘s a little curious – they‘re playing two games in a row against Ravenclaw and the first one doesn‘t really matter, because the championship will be decided during the second game, on win-lose basis.

Thankfully, after that weekend the weather remembers that it‘s supposed to start spring now. The snow melts gradually and at the beginning of April even Scotland feels the spring in the air.

Just before the Easter holidays the hut of the groundskeeper, not really close to the castle itself but still in view from where the students took to lounge around in the spring sun, catches fire. The hut was made from wood so it burns easily and the small dragon in its ruins is discovered swiftly. The groundskeeper (Hagrid, Harry remembers eventually) tries to defend the dragon and when professor Mcgonagall turns a piece of burnt wood into a cage Potter, Weasley, and, to Harry‘s surprise, Granger join him. Mcgonagall looks appalled by that before questioning them about how in all hell they know about the dragon.

When the three of them land themselves in a month of detention with the deputy headmistress herself and a promise that she will have a word with Dumbledore about Hagrid, Harry can‘t stop himself from snickering. Apparently, the three of them knew Hagrid was hiding a dragon in his hut and were trying to help him smuggle the poor thing to Romania. And they knew all of that because they were there when the dragon hatched – after curfew. That leads to them losing sixty points to Gryffindor in total.

„See? Told you we‘d have much more fun here than in the library.“

„Alright, fine. You were right.“ Pansy‘s eyes shine when she says it. „What do you think their detention will be?“

Going to the Forbidden Forest, is the answer to that question. Harry frowns when he hears that. Isn‘t the forest forbidden for a reason? He makes a mental note to mention that to his father in his next letter.

Besides, that‘s not even the most scandalous thing rotating in the school rumor mill. Apparently, Potter was attacked by Voldemort. Pansy informs them of this newest rumor and she, Harry, and Draco exchange a somewhat amused eye-roll. Theo just frowns and hides behind another book, but Blaise squints his eyes and looks from one to another.

„There‘s something you‘re not saying.“ They just grin at him and Blaise sighs. „Whatever. I don‘t care. Just… it‘s not really Voldemort, is it?“

„No. Don‘t worry, Voldemort isn‘t coming back.“

„How can you be so sure?“

Harry grins and Pansy snorts.

„Trust him on that. As long as Harry lives, Voldemort won‘t come back.“

Blaise doesn‘t look much calmer, but he just nods and lets it go.

Soon after most of the school leaves for Easter holidays and Harry honestly enjoys the free time and the mostly empty school. Not Slytherin common room, because Slytherins stayed behind to either focus on their exams (the fifth and seventh years) or start with their finals preparations. But the rest of the houses left and the castle is much quieter and Harry finds it much more welcoming.

Justin  manages to talk his parents into letting him stay and looks excited to join them even outside their study sessions. Harry takes him, Blaise, and Theo on a tour of secret passages all a round the castle. While Blaise and Theo are happy with it, excited about finding shortcuts and just general secrets, Justin beams at Harry.

„Magic is amazing!“

Harry just laughs and tugs Justin‘s sleeve to take him with him on another run through the castle. Justin follows and when Blaise yells after them to slow down laughs along with Harry.

The comeback of the rest of the students is not entirely pleasant and Harry finds himself annoyed. It doesn‘t help that their little war with twins has been going on for months and the twins come back with a handful of small pranks that are all annoying. Harry can hand it to them – they don‘t really do anything truly dangerous and after professor Shackelbolt gave an entire Great Hall a speech about respecting each and every individual‘s customs and traditions they haven‘t targeted any of their customs, either. But it‘s still annoying.

The April quidditch game is fun. It‘s the first game Justin tags along with them and Harry and Draco try to explain quidditch to him. Apparently, the whole system doesn‘t make any sense to the muggleborn.

„Okay, but if the snitch is worth so many points, the rest of the players are kind of useless, aren‘t they?“

„If they can catch the snitch, then for the purpose of the one game, maybe. But all the leagues are played for points, not really for wins. Look at the British and Irish league. They play around fifty games each season and that‘s before the playoffs. And yeah, okay, playoffs are played on the win-lose basis, but the league itself is played for points. You can win by ten points and lose by a hundred points in two games and it will suck because you just lost ninety points. Or you can have a losing streak of four games, but all those four games might mean just sixty lost points and that‘s not that bad. Or at the end of the regular season you might have three games to play and be three hundred points down. It‘s not enough to win those games. You need to win the three hundred points in them. More, because it‘s possible that the teams you‘re competing against distantly will also gain points.“

„Oh. That makes more sense. So, the two of you play?“

They talk and they cheer and Justin laughs at some of the choruses the Slytherins have. Slytherin chasers are beating Ravenclaw comfortably. The Ravenclaw seeker has to see it, because he catches the snitch fairly early and manages to win the game – the final score is 140 Slytherins and 170 Ravenclaw. Harry sees Marcus yelling at Higgs, but he also knows Marcus enough to know that he‘s not really upset. After all, the final game is already set and now he has a month to scare Higgs enough to win it for them the next time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As for Fluffy and Tom knowing about it - don't be too angry at the Board for allowing the Cerberus at the school. Dumbledore did ask for permission and the Board did gra nd it. But Dumbledore somehow forgot to mention that the big dog will be in the building and the Board assumed it would be placed somewhere outside, on the lands that belong to Hogwarts and are guarded, but outside the castle itself.  
> When Harry mentioned the dog, Tom assumed he talked about meeting him on one of his walks outside. Harry assumed Tom knew it was inside, when Tom knew about it. So, miscommunication, craftly manipulated by Dumbledore. Although Dumbledore isn't really aware that's what he did.  
> One more chapter to go!


	15. Magic is amazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beltane and the end of the school year.

On the first day of May, they’re woken up so early it’s basically the middle of the night. And that’s coming from Harry, who’s used to getting up early.

“Get up, or you won’t get breakfast. It starts in ten minutes and ends in forty. Get up now or don’t eat all day!”

Harry groans and turns around, pulling his pillow over his head. But… whoever just yelled at them had a point. (He assumes it was one of the prefects. It wasn’t Marcus and Harry doesn’t think anyone else would do that.)

“Come on, boys,” he mutters as he sits up, not even opening his eyes. “You know that Beltane is even worse than Samain, we need to eat as long as we have the time.”

“You can come in your PJs, children, no one will judge you.”

Harry blinks in surprise as a pillow hits the back of his head. Draco in his bed slurs something about missing the mark and someone laughs as the door to the hall closes. Harry smirks.

“Okay, you two sleeping beauties, raise and shine!”

The breakfast is worth it. It’s not even four in the morning yet, but Draco and Blaise are not the only ones who look like they’re about to kill someone. Everyone is still in something that looks like their night clothes as they eat and softly talk and eventually even laugh.

It’s just after four when Bole gets up and claps. It’s surprisingly effective.

“Alright, the sunset starts in about thirty minutes. Get your asses into some sort of robe and let’s get moving. And yes, I have the spell that makes everything that contains caffeine turn into water and I will use it the moment the sun raises, so don’t even try it.”

By now, Harry learned to just go with it.

They meet a group of Ravenclaws with some Hufflepuffs and even some Gryffindors mixed in in the Greeting Hall, along with most of the professors. They’re all mostly in their sleeping clothes with a warm robe thrown over it. They don’t stop there, though, instead they go out to the dark and fresh air.

They make their way to the Black Lake, or rather to the grass in front of it. Marcus grabs Harry’s robe and pulls him closer to the lake. Harry has just enough time to grab Draco, who grabs Blaise, who grabs Theo, and so the four of them find themselves so near to the Black Lake that they have a perfect view from the lake to the river leading to the mountains.

“Two minutes.”

Harry isn’t sure who exactly says that, because it’s more than one voice declaring it all at once. Probably prefects from various houses as well as some professors. All the students and professors move to be close to the Lake. They’re not circling it, the lake is too big and there’s not enough of them. But they do cover an impressive length.

Harry looks towards Marcus, but Marcus keeps looking forward.

“You don’t want to miss that, squirt.”

Harry frowns, but listens. And he’s glad he does.

The sun raises from behind the mountains. The sky lightens and the sun paints the whole sky in the most beautiful colours. The crisp air tickles Harry’s cheeks and there’s a warm hand in his just as a soft hum registers in his ears.

The sun raises and the soft hum turns into a song. Harry doesn’t really know the first one, but he does the second one. It’s a hymn about spring and new beginnings and hope and so is every single song that follows. They’re all interlinked in a chain of people, Marcus by his left hand and Draco by his right hand. Magic flows through them, light and playful and energizing, biding all of them to each other and to the air and to the earth and to the lake.

It’s a feeling Harry never felt before. It’s cleansing and makes him feel so light that he could fly without a broom.

When he opens his eyes next time their soft singing turned humming is fading and the sun is up, they’re all just a little damp and still holding hands.

Marcus smirks at him before letting go and stretching.

“Amazing, huh?”

“Yeah. Pretty amazing.”

Suddenly, he doesn’t think he’d want food for the rest of the day even if he wasn’t fasting.

***

With May comes weather nice enough that they can start spending most of their free time outside. Some tables appear in the courtyard so the students can work on their homework outside and Harry is very happy about that. The library was starting to get on his nerves. Besides, with approaching exams and finals even Gryffindors started to visit the library, so the library became much noisier than even the courtyard. It‘s not a place to practice magic, but it‘s better than being stuck inside when the weather is so nice.

Draco takes his chess set with him one afternoon and Justin agrees to play with him. The game is intense and lasts forever. Or rather, Blaise and Theo say it‘s intense and for Harry it lasts forever. Draco manages to win it, but he grudgingly admits that it was a tough win and congratulates Justin on his game. When he asks where he learned to play Justin just laughs.

„What, you think chess is the domain of you wizardfolk? Dad likes it, Brian is the champion of it. Well, was in his primary school. He still plays, but there are people better at it at Eton. It‘s kind of a family thing. Except for mum. She hates that she‘s not as good.“

The May quidditch game is not as big as you would assume considering that it‘s a school final. Gryffindors are basically boycotting it, because they‘re not playing. Some Hufflepuffs do make it, but most of them opt to use the Saturday to start preparing for the finals. Ravenclaws somehow managed to forget the date of the game in the interest of some house-wide debate that prevented most of the Ravenclaws to even hand in their homework in the last week. Their team needs to be reminded of the game an hour before it and Marcus looks so pleased that Harry suspects the whole debate thing is his fault.

Of course, the Ravenclaw team is somewhat distracted and so the Slytherins win the game easily enough. When Higgs finally spots the snitch it’s already 210:50, so once they add the points for the snitch their win is almost record breaking.

The school dissolves into chaos of students trying to learn the whole two semesters in not even a month. Gryffindors are loud and whiny and soon Harry takes to intentionally avoiding places where any number of Gryffindors resides. Pansy takes pleasure in needling them into angry rants and he leaves her to her fun, but he doesn‘t need to be there with her. Ravenclaws are even worse. Gryffindors at least stay human, but Ravenclaws somehow turn into a blur of excitement and anxiety that bounces from one place to another before crashing. And when they crash, they crash hard. Harry doesn‘t even bat an eye when he finds some older students sleeping on the table in library, but on the floor in one of the side corridors on sixth floor, that‘s… well, that‘s a surprise.

Father sends a care-package in late May with chocolate and cookies and Harry‘s favourite brand of tea. Also, a brochure about the fosterage system. There‘s not a word about it in the letter, but Harry still knows what father means and he happily hands it to Justin the first chance he has. Justin frowns at it.

„What is that?“

„Just… read through it. I have a feeling you‘ll need the information this summer.“

***

Last week of May, just when the NEWTs start, prefect Farley finds them.

„Mister Nott,“ she starts softly, „you‘re requested at professor Vector‘s office.“

Theo quickly looks up, eyes wide and scared. Prefect Farley smiles at him softly and clenches her fists.

„It‘s alright, Theo, nothing wrong. But we don‘t want to keep professor Vector waiting.“

„Alright, let‘s go then,“ Harry says and starts packing his things.

„Not you. Just mister Nott. It‘s a family matter. I promise, it‘s nothing bad.“

Theo looks even more scared than he did a second ago, but he looks at prefect Farley and somehow relaxes.

„It‘s alright,“ he says in a quiet, tight voice. Then he looks away and starts packing his things. „It‘s fine, I‘ve got it. You stay here.“

They listen to him, but they all watch him leave with prefect Farley. She gently puts her arm around Theo‘s shoulders and leans her head closer to him, obviously telling him something softly. Theo relaxes a little, but stays somewhat tense.

„There‘s something you‘re not telling me, isn‘t there?“

The Slytherins flinch and look at Justin. Justin rolls his eyes.

„I‘m not blind or stupid.“ He hesitates then. „It‘s personal, right?“

They carefully exchange a look but in the end they all look at Blaise. He looks down for a moment before slowly nodding. Draco and Pansy look towards Harry. Harry sighs.

„We‘re… not sure what exactly is going on, but… We think Theo‘s father is...“

„An abusive asshole.“

Draco whips his head around to see Blaise and Pansy frowns at him, but Harry just sighs.

„We don‘t have any proof… yet,“ Harry smirks. Farley was certain that whatever it was professor Vector wanted to see Theo about wasn‘t a bad thing. And in the last months he made sure to ask his father at least twice a month to do something about Theo‘s situation. Maybe it really is a good thing. „I think that might change soon.“

Later in the day when they‘re on their way to the Great Hall for supper they find Theo standing to the side near the way to the dungeon with his grandfather. They both seem somewhat awkward, but Emory is talking to Theo softly and Theo seems to be listening, even though he‘s not looking at him. Harry makes his way right over to them.

„Hello, uncle Emory.“

They both jump a little before relaxing and Emory even smiles at him.

„Harrison. Good afternoon. Draco, Pansy,“ he nods to Harry‘s friends. „Mister Zabini, I believe, it‘s nice to meet you. And mister Finch-Fletchley, I assume…?“ Emory‘s intense eyes land on Justin. Justin gulps a little, but he bows his head just a touch too low to what is prescribed as appropriate, but Harry‘s glad to see it that way and not the other way around.

„Lord Nott. It‘s an honour to meet you, sir.“

Emory‘s lips twitch a little before he somewhat awkwardly looks at Theo.Then he looks back at the rest of them and sets his back straight.

„Well, it‘s time for me to go. Take care, all of you. Harrison, Theodore.“

He nods curtly and leaves swiftly. Harry looks after him, blinking a little in surprise.

„You okay?“

He quickly turns back to see Blaise and Theo. Blaise watches their friend with a frown that means he‘s worried, but Theo is looking at Harry with almost scary focus.

„You know my grandfather?“

Harry smiles a little awkwardly. Pansy snorts.

„He did call him uncle, didn‘t he?“

„Pans!“

„What? He did.“

„I wasn‘t sure you have a good relationship with him, so I didn‘t want to mention it.“

Somewhat awkward silence settles over them before Justin interrupts it.

„He seems… tense.“

„He‘s…,“ Harry is quick to defend him, but then he remembers Emory‘s dry humour, his cold practicality, and the determined way with which he goes after what he wants, whatever that might be. He‘s not exactly the warmest person around, and Harry is saying that as someone who was raised by a group of Slytherins. „He‘s complicated. But he‘s going to be good to you, Theo.“

They go to the Great Hall for supper.

„How do you know?“ Theo asks softly once they‘re seated. Harry looks at him a little confused. „How do you know he‘s going to be good to me?“

Harry thinks about the careful way Emory questioned him about Theo during Yule. He thinks about the conversations he overheard between Emory, Harry‘s father, and his uncles – about what he should get Theo for his birthdays and how to try to get in touch with him outside of them. He thinks about the wishful way with which Emory sometimes watches Marcus.

„I know him. Just… trust me, on this, okay?“ Then he frowns. „Why? Did he do something to you?“

Theo shrinks back a little, but shakes his head decidedly. He stays quiet even after the conversation turns to other topics, but when Harry looks over to see that he‘s okay he looks more thoughtful than simply withdrawn.

***

The finals go on without a hitch. Farley and Nettle check on all the younger years, making sure that they eat and drink enough to be able to function. No one does the same for the older years or even the prefects taking the OWLs and NEWTs, so the common room is messy the whole three weeks they take place – two weeks for OWLs and two weeks for NEWTs, but they share just the one week. It‘s a mess and Harry is very grateful for the elves. He‘s pretty sure that if they didn‘t clean the common room even with the older students staying there throughout the night they would soon find themselves drowning in it. Besides, he sees that some of the older students just forget to go to the Great Hall for meals, so they ask the elves to bring them something. So yes, Harry is very grateful for the elves.

Harry doesn‘t find the finals that challenging. They‘re still exhausting, but he doesn‘t worry about passing. He‘s fairly sure that he‘ll come close to the top in the final ranking and he‘s certain that he‘s probably coming in first in charms. Even though he and his friends didn‘t spend every free minute in the last two weeks studying, they started in April and so they‘re not really worried. Justin is a little worried about his introductory class, but Harry is pretty certain he doesn‘t have anything to worry about.

Right after their finals Theo is asked to go to the infirmary. Harry and Blaise offer to go with him, but Theo refuses. Once again it‘s prefect Farley who accompanies him to the infirmary and as Harry watches them go, Theo looks fairly comfortable with her and not really stressed about the situation. He‘s back for supper and when they ask him how he is, he softly smiles and says that he‘s fine and what did they do with the afternoon. He doesn‘t withdraw at all and even seems as relaxed as Theo gets. Harry takes it as a good sign.

Of course, the last week they spend in school before going home for the holidays can‘t be calm and uneventful. They couldn‘t be in school with Christopher Potter if they wanted calm and uneventful.

One morning they wake up to Quirrell gone and Christopher Potter in the infirmary, with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger just being discharged from the infirmary and telling stories Harry knows are not true.

First of all, Voldemort is not some ghost who could posses Quirrell. Sure, his father could make Quirrell think that‘s what‘s going on, but Harry is pretty sure that Tom wants Voldemort to stay dead as much as the light side does. And unlike the light side, he can guarantee it. Second, they know the Philosopher‘s stone hasn‘t been in Hogwarts for some months now.

Pansy and Draco are annoyed with the story they tell, but Harry manages to make them let it go. It doesn‘t matter that most of Gryffindors and even some Hufflepuffs see the trio as heroes. They know that they were able to make it through the… let‘s call it maze long before the trio even knew about it. And that‘s enough. They know they‘re better, they don‘t need everyone else to know, too.

Of course, it‘s made worse when Potter senior comes by the second day to visit his son, boasting about his son already being a hero.

„But that‘s not really a surprise, is it? After all, he first became a hero when he was just one year old.“

Unexpectedly a wave of anger takes over Harry. It‘s not Christopher who stopped the curse. Well, technically, it was their mother who stopped the curse. But Voldemort targeted Harry, not Christopher.

But that‘s irrelevant, Harry firmly tells himself. It doesn‘t matter. Christopher is the boy-who-lived, but Harry has something better. Harry has his father and his family and that‘s better.

As soon as Christopher is let out of the infirmary it gets worse. Apparently, Christopher killed the possessed Quirrell with his bare hands. Harry doesn‘t understand how that‘s possible.

„The word around school is that he was saved by his mother‘s love and that love is still protecting him.“

Harry, Pansy, and Draco exchange a look. The rest of their table, consisting of Blaise, Theo, and Justin, notice. Justin sighs.

„You know more about this whole situation than what you‘re telling us, don‘t you?“

„Don‘t worry, Justin. You get used to it.“

Pansy rolls her eyes at them, but Draco‘s worried look finds Harry‘s. Harry looks away from him and towards Justin and Blaise. Theo is still quiet and even though he does look curious, doesn‘t voice it. Justin… well, if father really offers fosterage to him, he will eventually find out the truth… or most of it anyway. Blaise… well. They are still just children. Harry knows things because they directly involve him and Draco and Pansy know things because they‘ve been friends forever and they‘re something like Harry‘s bodyguards. At least Harry is pretty sure that father pays them in some way to look after him.

„Motherly love is strong. It can even defeat enemies, as long as there‘s sacrifice involved. Which there wasn‘t – Lily Evans, even though no longer involved with James Potter, is very much alive.“

„That would mean that he‘s lying.“

„Not necessarily. He just needs to think that what he‘s saying is true.“

„Could be fun to poke holes into their story, wouldn‘t it?“

Blaise‘ smirk is just a touch dangerous. Harry replies in kind.

It‘s torture, the remaining week of school year. Potter and Weasley are boasting and the whole Gryffindor and most of Hufflepuff eat it up. Harrry can‘t wait for it to be over.

But first, there‘s the End-of-Term Feast. Harry is even looking forward to it, because if nothing else, than Slytherin won the House Cup.

Or so he thinks before Dumbledore starts giving some „last minute“ points. Harry calls bullshit – all the events Dumbledore gives points for took place more than a week ago. He had plenty time to award points for them before the feast began.

„Can he even do that?“

„Apparently.“

Of course, Gryffindors are happy about it. And when Gryffindors are happy, they‘re loud. Louder than usual, that is. That doesn‘t help with the funk that‘s already settling over Slytherin‘s table. It was supposed to be their night, and a big one to that. Seven wins in a row is impressive. But no, Christopher Potter has to come and Dumbledore has to change all that in a minute.

„Guess it‘s the Pottter show now,“ Harry overhears one of the third years saying and… well. He assumes he‘s not entirely wrong.

The cheer is finally dying down and the Gryffindors are setting back down when the door to the hall bursts open. Blaise sits up straighter and grins.

„Finally.“

„Finally?“

„Shh. You want to hear that.“

Into the hall walks the wizard from the photo Blaise showed them all those months ago, except somehow he looks younger. He‘s standing tall, swinging his cane mostly for effect instead of actually needing it, wearing an expensive looking robe in light blue visible through his open cloak in dark blue. His hair is cut to frame his skinny face, the hair white and ending just bellow his chin. Even though he looks very old, his steps are easy and he stands tall.

„Albus Dumbledore!“ His voice is not exactly loud, but it‘s loud enough that it carries in the silent Great Hall. „What is it I‘m hearing about one of your students saving my stone?“

Dumbledore takes only a second to smile at the man and open his arms in a grand gesture of… friendship?

„Nicolas! Yes, of course. I was just about to write you. I‘m afraid I won‘t be able to look after your stone any longer.“

„Look after my stone? Why would you do that? It‘s perfectly safe wherever Perenelle hid it, I‘m sure. I was a little surprised to hear it was almost stolen from here when it never left France as far as I know.“

Now there‘s a low murmur across the hall. When Harry looks over to Gryffindor Christopher‘s face is once again red. Nicolas Flamel on the other hand made his way in between Slytherin and Ravenclaw table almost all the way up to where the professors sit, so he‘s now close enough so Harry can see the small upturn of his mouth in a small smirk.

„Now, Nicolas,“ Dumbledore‘s smile is almost condescending and Harry wonders how bold he is to smile in this way at Nicolas Flamel, the world‘s most famous alchemist and the oldest man alive. „I know your memory is not what it used to be-“

„Whatever you‘re about to say, my dear apprentice, don‘t.“ Something in Flamel‘s voice changes so it sounds cold and dangerous. Dangerous enough for Dumbledore to shut his mouth. „I just came here to make sure that no one leaves here with false information. Don‘t worry, everyone. The stone is safe under the protection of my wife and it won‘t be found anywhere on the British Islands. Now,“ he turns sharply to Slytherin table, to the part where the first years are, „Blaise, my dear, how are you?“

„Much better now, uncle Nick, thank you.“

There‘s a whisper of „uncle Nick?!“ at the Ravenclaw table and Harry catches some impressed looks from the Slytherin table, but Slytherins are a little more subtle about the whole thing.

„Do you want to sit down with us?“

„I would like that, yes, please. And I believe those are your friends?“

„Yes. Uncle Nick, meet heir Draco Malfoy, heiress Pansy Parkinson, Harrison Gaunt, and Theodore Nott. Everyone, Nicolas Flamel, my godfather.“

„It‘s a real pleasure, mister Flamel.“

„An honour, mister Flamel.“

„Welcome to Hogwarts, mister Flamel. I hope your experience here won‘t be shadowed by your previous knowledge of our headmaster.“

Theo just shyly nods at him, murmuring something so quietly Harry doesn‘t understand him. Mister Flamel just smiles at all of them before setting his eyes on Harry.

„Thank you. And don‘t worry mister Gaunt, I‘ve known Hogwarts long before I‘ve ever met Albus Dumbledore. And may I just say I‘m sorry to see the state the Hogwarts education sank to in the last century. Harrison Gaunt you said, right? Any relation to Corvinus Gaunt?“

Harry sighs. He heard about the last lord Slytherin before his father from his grandfathers.

„I‘m sorry for whatever grievance you have with my ancestor, mister Flamel.“

To Harry‘s surprise Nicolas Flamel laughs.

„Oh, I heard about Corvinus when he was older, but I only met him once. Did you know that he was Hogwarts‘ champion back in eighteenth century? It was one hosted by us, by Beauxbatons I mean, so probably 1760 or maybe 1772. Very bright young man, that one, very talented. Not much liked, although if I remember it correctly, he had a group of loyal fans. I also remember a Parkinson witch being a champion just sixteen or twenty years after. Leilani Parkinson, if I‘m not mistaken. Terrifying young witch. A dragon ate her leg and she still wanted to compete.“

Nicolas Flamel stays the whole feast and talks with all four of them. Well, five of them, but Theo is shy about it and hardly says a word.

Harry is not happy about that, but he knows that‘s going to change.

In the end, it doesn‘t make up for them losing the house cup at the last second, but it‘s still pretty cool, spending the evening with Nicolas Flamel.

***

Justin seems as impressed with Nicolas Flamel as the rest of Hogwarts.

„Was that really Nicolas Flamel? Like, the alchemist, Nicolas Flamel?“

Pansy frowns about him.

„You know him?“

„I know about him,“ Justin shrugs. „He was born before the Statute of Secrecy, wasn‘t he? Muggles probably noticed that he lived too long, because yeah, I heard about him. Do you know him?“

„Blaise knows him.“

„That is still creepy,“ Justin adds as they make it to the carriage that rides on its own. It takes them to Hogwarts and back to Hogsmeade for every trip they make to London. „How old is he? What‘s the difference between a wizard and an alchemist?“

The train compartment is tight with Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Theo, Harry, and Justin all sitting there all the time. Millicent stops by and they try to move so she could sit down, but it‘s not as comfortable. Neville comes to say hi after and he offers her a place in the compartment where also Vince and Greg are. They leave soon after that and Harry is happy to see that – Millicent has been drifting alone for most of the school year. If she befriends Neville and Vince and Greg it will be good for all of them. Vince and Greg stop by to say goodbye in the afternoon, when Justin and Draco agreed to play chess and Harry and Pansy made them agree to play just one game.

It takes a probe from Harry for Justin to realize that he should change from his robes to his muggle clothes. Justin blinks in surprise at his robe before he looks at Harry.

„Won‘t you change?“

Harry just smiles.

„I will step through the fireplace right to my home. I don‘t need to change for the way back.“

Justin frowns at him and opens his mouth before closing it again. Then he snorts and smiles.

„Magic is amazing.“

The train arrives at the London station and they quickly make sure that they can owl each other any day.

„We‘ll see each other,“ Harry says firmly to Theo when he notices that Theo looks a little scared. Theo looks at him with a little hope and a lot of distrust. Harry grins at him. „Trust me. Uncle Emory and uncle Theodore are at our castle almost as often as we are. And they always join us for our holiday in Ireland. And you know Marcus.“

Theo and Blaise both frown.

„What does Marcus Flint have to do with anything?“

Harry, Pansy, and Draco smirk.

„You‘ll see.“

Blaise and Justin say their goodbyes quickly and leave to find their parents. Theo tags along with Pansy, Draco, and Harry. Harry doesn‘t comment on it, just stays behind and gently bumps his shoulder to Theo‘s. Theo smiles at him softly and Harry grins in answer.

Draco and Pansy‘s parents stand a little to the side. Harry‘s father stands with Emory and Theodore just few steps away.

Harry frowns as he looks from Theodore to Theo. Now that will be fun.

„Harrison.“

„Father,“ Harry grins at him as he steps around Theo to stand next to his father. Father smiles at him, just a small smile, but there are small wrinkles around his eyes, a touch of warmth in them. They then look towards Theo.

„Theodore,“ Emory smiles awkwardly at his grandson. „This is my close friend, Theorode Flint.“

„Theodore is fine,“ uncle Theodore offers before frowning a little. Harry snickers.

„And of course, Thomas Slytherin.“

„Tom will do.“ Theo flinches at father‘s curt tone and Harry tries to smile encouragingly at him. He knows father, he wouldn‘t offer Theo to use his first name if he wasn‘t already fond of him.

„Hey, dad. Hey, Emory.“ That‘s Marcus making his way slowly to them. „Tom,“ he nods towards father. „Squirt.“

„Hey!“

„Little Theo. So, Nott Manor is it?“

Father‘s hand lands on Harry‘s shoulder and leads him away from the small family. Harry would like to stay and see Theo react to Marcus, but he‘s directed in another way.

„Did I see your muggleborn friend leaving the train with you?“

„Well, yes, he did arrive with us. Along with all other students.“

Father‘s hand leaves his shoulder for long enough to gently swat his head before landing back in its place.

„Introduce us, Harrison.“

Harry rolls his eyes. He hates his full name. But he finally sees Justin with two adults heading to the gate to the muggle world. They‘re not quick enough to catch them before they cross into the muggle world. Harry sighs.

„Do we have to, father?“

„Of course we don‘t have to. But I thought you like your friend and want to help him in his integration to our society.“

Once again, Harry sighs. Father‘s got him there. He hates when he does that.

They cross into the muggle world. Harry tries to look around automatically, but by then father knows who they‘re going after so he firmly leads him their way.

„Justin? Justin!“

Justin stops and turns around, his parents doing the same. His father is pushing the trolley with Justin‘s suitcase and his mother has one arm thrown over his shoulder, but it slipped when Justin turn around. They‘re both wearing muggle clothes that at least looks neat and clean – mister Finch-Fletchley is wearing a dark grey suit with a dark blue tie and misses Finch-Fletchley is wearing a dark blue pencil skirt suit. All clean lines and matching each other.

„I‘m sorry, Justin, mister and misses Finch-Fletchley, but my father wanted to meet you. Justin, this is lord Slytherin.“

„Lord Slytherin,“ Justin bows his head the same way he did to Emory. Harry makes a mental note to talk to him about it. It‘s better to bow it lower than the other way around, but they don‘t want him to go around doing it to just anyone. „These are my parents, Robert and Kimberly Finch-Fletchley. Mum, dad, this is Harrison Gaunt, my friend, and lord Slytherin, his father.“

Both Justin‘s parents try to bow their heads in the same way Justin just did. They‘re not entirely successful, but Harry notices that it still impresses father.

„I‘m sorry if we‘re somehow inconveniencing you.“

„It‘s alright, lord Slytherin.“ Misses Finch-Fletchley exchanges a look with her husband before she turns to father with a smile. „We just don‘t like big groups of people very much. Can we help you?“

„I was actually thinking about ways I‘d be able to help you. Justin. May I call you Justin?“ With wide eyes Justin nods. „Have you read the brochure I sent you through my son?“

„Of course, lord Slytherin.“ He looks to Harry and Harry smiles at him. „Once I was done with it I sent it to my parents.“

Harry‘s father‘s smile is quick and a little unsettling, but Harry is happy to see it. It means that his father likes what he sees.

„Excellent. Have you had a chance to look at it, mister and misses Finch-Fletchley?“

Once again there‘s a quick exchange of looks. Harry looks up at his father and he finds him focused and serious. Also a good sign.

„I‘m sorry to say we didn‘t have the time yet. We did look over the one you sent before… holidays. We tried going to the Gringotts before the New Year, but we weren‘t able to secure a meeting.“

„I could help with that.“ Father looks around the station with muggles rushing all around them, most of them giving him and Harry strange looks. „I‘ll send you a letter. Will you be able to receive an owl post?“

„Yes,“ mister Finch-Fletchley replies with some humour in his tone. „We bought an owl at the Diagon Alley as soon as we heard that we wouldn‘t be able to communicate with Justin in any other way.“

„Excellent. We could meet in the Diagon Alley sometime next week? I‘ll send a letter about the details.“

„We‘d much appreciate that, lord Slytherin, thank you. Mister Gaunt, Justin told us you were a tremendous help, especially with his Introductory class. Thank you as well.“

„It‘s been my pleasure, Mister Finch-Fletchley, Misses Finch-Fletchley. I like to think that the friendship I gained in the meantime is more valuable than the help itself.“

„It‘s kind of you to say that, but if I know anything about cultural differences, you‘re too kind.“ There‘s something sharp in misses Finch-Fletchley‘s eyes that Harry likes. „Will we see you next week, too?“

Harry looks to his father and so does everyone else. His father smiles.

„I think that will be doable. We won‘t delay you any longer. It was nice meeting you, Justin. Mister Finch-Fletchley, Misses Finch-Fletchley.“

„The honour is ours, lord Slytherin.“

It takes just few steps to get back to the platform. It‘s mostly empty now and Harry and his father head right to the f ireplaces.

„Are you really going to offer fosterage to him, father?“

Tom smirks just a little as he looks down on Harry.

„We will just have to see, Harry.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for the first year!  
> I'm already writing the second year, but this time around summer is part of it, so it'll still take me some time.  
> Anyway - how did you like Harry's first year at Hogwarts?


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